The former college admissions consultant who cooked up a multimillion-dollar scheme to fraudulently admit kids of wealthy clients, including Hollywood celebrities, into elite U.S. colleges was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison Wednesday, closing a sordid chapter on the unfair world of university admissions.
William “Rick” Singer, the mastermind of what prosecutors called the nation’s largest college admissions fraud, pleaded guilty in 2019 to several charges including racketeering and money laundering. Prosecutors had sought a six-year sentence, but the judge took into consideration Singer’s cooperation with authorities, which enabled them to indict 53 people in the far-reaching case. Among those previously sentenced to jail were actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
The “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation uncovered a complex web of relationships that Singer developed with coaches, parents, testing proctors and others to take advantage of the lack of controls in college admissions systems at the University of Southern California, Stanford, Georgetown, UCLA and other universities. During court proceedings, Singer detailed the three “doors” to gain admittance into these colleges: a front door for students taking the proper steps; a back door for those whose parents could donate to a university’s endowment; and a side door he created for parents willing to pay six-figure sums for their kids to be admitted as fake athletes.
