College admissions cheating scandal: Here is everyone charged in the case
By Suhauna Hussain, Alejandra Reyes-Velarde and Richard Winton,
Los Angeles Times (TNS)
Updated
They include Hollywood actresses, former CEOs, a famed parenting book writer, a fashion icon, a Newport Beach college counselor and university athletic officials.
In a college admissions scandal brought to light Tuesday, federal prosecutors allege wealthy parents paid to help their children cheat on college entrance exams and to falsify athletic records of students to enable them to secure admission to elite schools, including UCLA, USC, Stanford, Yale and Georgetown.
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WILLIAM RICK SINGER
William "Rick" Singer founder of the Edge College & Career Network, departs federal court in Boston on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, after he pleaded guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Steven Senne
Charge: Racketeering conspiracy; money laundering conspiracy; conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; obstruction of justice.
Singer, who owns a for-profit Newport Beach college admissions company, is at the center of the scheme, according to court documents. Wealthy parents paid to have him and others facilitate their children’s cheating on college entrance exams and admission to elite universities as athletes, regardless of whether they played the sport, prosecutors allege.
In a September 2016 photo, Yale's women's Head Soccer Coach Rudy Meredith gives a high five to a player after making a great play in a scrimmage, in Frankfort, Ky. According to the federal indictments unsealed Tuesday, March 12, 2019, Meredith put a prospective student who didn’t play soccer on a school list of recruits, doctored her supporting portfolio to indicate she was a player, and later accepted $400,000 from the head of a college placement company. (Doug Engle/Star-Banner via AP)
Doug Engle
Charge: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud; honest services wire fraud.
Meredith of Madison, Conn., was employed as the head women’s soccer coach at Yale University until November 2018. He is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for designating applicants as athletic recruits for the college’s soccer team, and gaining them admission to the university.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Riddell served as the director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy in Bradenton Fla., where he has worked since 2006. He was allegedly involved with the scheme since 2011, according to court filings.
John Vandemoer, former head sailing coach at Stanford, arrives at federal court in Boston on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, where he was expected to plead guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
Steven Senne
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Vandemoer was a sailing coach at Stanford University. He is accused of recommending two prospective students — children of Singer’s clients — as recruits for the college’s sailing team in exchange for payment to Stanford sailing, according to court documents.
Dvorskiy was director of the West Hollywood College Preparatory School and Williams was an assistant teacher at a Houston high school. Both Dvorskiy and Williams were also test administrators for the College Board and ACT, who are accused of facilitating cheating.
Ernst was the head tennis coach at Georgetown University until 2018. Prosecutors allege he accepted bribes to designate applicants as tennis recruits in order for them to gain admission to Georgetown.
Ferguson, of Winston-Salem, N.C., has been head women’s volleyball coach at Wake Forest University since 2016. On Tuesday, the university placed Ferguson on administrative leave and hired legal counsel to review the matter.
MARTIN FOX
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Martin Fox is president of a private tennis academy and camp in Houston. He is accused of brokering bribes in exchange for payment.
This Tuesday, March 12, 2019 photo shows the University Village area of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. USC is one of many colleges and companies moving swiftly to distance themselves from employees swept up in a nationwide college admissions scheme. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Reed Saxon
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Heinel was a senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California. She allegedly received bribes totaling more than $1.3 million in exchange for falsely designating applicants as athletic recruits to gain them admission to USC. She was fired by the university Tuesday.
LAURA JANKE AND ALI KHOSROSHAHIN
Southern California head coach Ali Khosroshahin, right, is dunked after Southern California defeated Florida State, 2-0, in the NCAA Women's College Cup championship soccer match, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007, in College Station, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
Matt Slocum
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Khosroshahin was USC women’s soccer coach before he was fired in 2013. Janke was his assistant coach of women’s soccer before she left USC in 2014.
Masera, of Folsom, Calif., was an accountant and financial officer for the Edge College & Career Network as well as the Key Worldwide foundation until December 2017. Effectively Singer’s bookkeeper, he is accused of collecting money from parents under the guise of charitable donations as part of the scheme.
JORGE SALCEDO
FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2014 file photo, UCLA coach Jorge Salcedo reacts during the first half of an NCAA College Cup championship soccer game against Virginia in Cary, N.C. Salcedo was charged along with nearly 50 other people Tuesday, March 12, 2019, in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and insiders at testing centers to get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, federal prosecutors said. UCLA said that Salcedo has been placed on leave pending a review and will have no involvement with the team. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)
Gerry Broome
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Salcedo was the head coach of UCLA men’s soccer. He allegedly accepted $200,000 for facilitating the enrollment of two students, falsely designating them as soccer players though they did not play competitively. He was placed on leave by the school Tuesday morning.
MIKAELA SANFORD
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Sanford was an employee of Singer’s who served in various roles at Edge College & Career Network and Key Worldwide Foundation. Sanford allegedly helped fabricate false athletic profiles and secretly took classes for some students so that the grades she earned could be submitted to colleges as part of their applications, according to the complaint.
DAVID SIDOO
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Sidoo is a Vancouver businessman and former Canadian Football League player. He is accused of making two $100,000 payments to have others pose as his two sons to take exams including the SAT and Canadian high school graduation exam.
Southern California coach Jovan Vavic, left, and assistant coach Pater Janov celebrate USC's 3-2 victory over Stanford in the NCAA men's water polo championship game Sunday, Dec. 4, 2005, at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Ralph Wilson)
RALPH WILSON
Charge: Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Vavic was the men’s and women’s water polo coach at USC. He allegedly accepted bribes totaling more than $250,000 in exchange for falsely designating students as recruited athletes to help them gain admission. He was fired Tuesday.
GREGORY ABBOTT AND MARCIA ABBOTT
Gregory Abbott, founder and chairman of International Dispensing Corporation, leaves after appearing in federal court in New York on bribery charges, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Abbott is among dozens of people who were charged Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents allegedly bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the nation's most elite schools. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Bebeto Matthews
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Gregory Abbott is the founder and chairman of a food and beverage packaging company, according to court records. He and his wife, Marcia Abbott, are residents of New York City and Aspen, Colo.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, was a senior executive of a resort and casino operator in Macau until 2016. He’s accused of conspiring to bribe Donna Heinel, who until Tuesday was a senior associate athletic director at USC, to designate his daughter as a recruit for the basketball team to ease her admission to the school.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Blakes are a married couple from Ross, Calif. Diane Blake is the co-founder of Winston Retail Solutions, a retail merchandising firm. She previously founded the marketing firm Blake Marketing Inc., and worked as director of retail marketing and merchandising for Levi Strauss & Co., according to her LinkedIn page. Todd Blake is an entrepreneur and investor, according to the complaint.
JANE BUCKINGHAM
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Buckingham, of Los Angeles, is the chief executive of a marketing company. Bloomberg describes her as a “lifestyle guru and marketing consultant frequently quoted in television and newspaper interviews as a self-proclaimed millennial expert.”
Gordon Caplan of Greenwich, Conn., walks out of federal court Tuesday, March 12, 2019, in New York. Caplan, who is co-chairman of the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, was accused of paying $75,000 to get a test supervisor to correct the answers on his daughter's ACT exam after she took it. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
Julie Jacobson
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Caplan, of Greenwich, Conn., and New York, is an attorney and co-chairman of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He is accused of making a $75,000 payment under the guise of a charitable donation for his daughter to participate in the cheating scheme.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Center was the head coach of the men’s tennis team at the University of Texas at Austin. He was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for designating students as athletic recruits and facilitating their admission to the university, according to the complaint. He was placed on leave from the university Tuesday.
I-HSIN “JOEY” CHEN
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Chen, of Newport Beach, runs a company that provides warehousing and other services for the shipping industry. Chen is accused of paying $75,000 in exchange for his son’s participation in the cheating scheme, according to court documents.
AMY COLBURN AND GREGORY COLBURN
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Colburns are a married couple from Palo Alto. Gregory Colburn is a radiation oncologist in San Jose who has been practicing medicine for more than 20 years. He received his medical degree from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
ROBERT FLAXMAN
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Flaxman, a Beverly Hills resident, is CEO and co-founder of Crown Realty & Development, a real estate development company. According to his Facebook page, he attended USC.
MOSSIMO GIANNULLI AND LORI LOUGHLIN
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2019 file photo, actress Lori Loughlin, center, poses with daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli, left, and Isabella Rose Giannulli at the 2019 "An Unforgettable Evening" in Beverly Hills, Calif. Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were charged along with nearly 50 other people Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, federal prosecutors said. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Chris Pizzello
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Giannulli is a fashion designer and creator of clothing brand Mossimo; Loughlin is an actress famous for her role on “Full House.” The couple allegedly agreed to pay $500,000 bribes to have their two daughters recruited to the USC crew (even though neither of them actually row) in order to gain admission to the school, according to the complaint.
FILE - This May 15, 2002 file photo shows Los-Angeles based clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli posing with his fall preview clothing for Target department stores in New York. Giannulli and his wife, actress Lori Loughlin were charged along with nearly 50 other people Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, federal prosecutors said. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
KATHY WILLENS
MANUEL HENRIQUEZ AND ELIZABETH HENRIQUEZ
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Manuel Henriquez is the founder, chairman and CEO of Hercules Capital, a publicly traded specialty finance company based in Palo Alto. Manuel Henriquez and his wife, Elizabeth Henriquez, live in Atherton, Calif.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Hodge is a Laguna Beach-based investor. Hodge previously led Pimco, a large investment management company based in Newport Beach.
FELICITY HUFFMAN
FILE - In this Sept. 17, 2018 file photo, Felicity Huffman, left, and William H. Macy arrive at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Huffman was charged along with nearly 50 other people Tuesday, March 12, 2019, in a scheme in which wealthy parents bribed college coaches and insiders at testing centers to help get their children into some of the most elite schools in the country, federal prosecutors said. Court papers said a cooperating witness met with Huffman and Macy, at their Los Angeles home and explained the scam to them. The cooperator told investigators that Huffman and her spouse "agreed to the plan." (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Jordan Strauss
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Huffman, actress in the hit ABC show “Desperate Housewives,” is accused of participating in the cheating scheme for her oldest daughter. The daughter allegedly took the SAT in December 2017 and got a 1420, bumping up 400 points from her first test.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Isacksons are a married couple from Hillsborough, Calif. Bruce Isackson is the president of WP Investments, a real estate development firm in Woodside. According to WP Investments’ website, Isackson studied at UCLA.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Janavs is a former executive at a large food manufacturer formerly owned by members of her family, according to the criminal indictment.
ELISABETH KIMMEL
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Kimmel is the president and general counsel for media company Midwest Television, Inc. based in the San Diego area, according to her LinkedIn page. She is a resident of Las Vegas and La Jolla.
MARJORIE KLAPPER
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Klapper, of Menlo Park, co-owns a jewelry business. According to the complaint, Klapper asked if her son could take the ACT in Los Angeles after learning about the scheme from another client. She is accused of making a $15,000 purported charitable contribution for her son to participate in the cheating scheme.
TOBY MACFARLANE
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
WILLIAM MCGLASHAN
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
McGlashan, of Mill Valley, is a senior executive at global private equity firm TPG Growth. McGlashan also sits on the board of trustees at Marin Academy, a private prep school in San Rafael, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Palatella is the founder of liquor distribution company Preservation Distillery. She and her husband, former San Francisco 49ers player Lou Palatella, have been involved in the liquor distribution business for decades.
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Sartorio is a packaged foods entrepreneur based in Menlo Park. According to the San Francisco Business Times, Sartorio co-founded Elena’s Food Specialties Inc., which produces and distributes frozen Mexican food products.
STEPHEN SEMPREVIVO
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Semprevivo is the chief “strategy and growth officer” at Agoura Hills-based Cydcor, a company that provides outsourced sales services. According to his LinkedIn page, Semprevivo was previously the general manager for Machinima, a video entertainment network.
DEVIN SLOANE
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Sloane is the founder and general manager of the Los Angeles-based water company waterTALENT, which provides staff for water and wastewater treatment facilities, and its parent company aquaTECTURE. According to the company website, he is the former chief executive of a major oil and gas industry equipment supplier and began his career installing sewer mains.
JOHN WILSON
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Wilson, who lives in Lynnfield, Mass. is the founder and CEO of a private equity and real estate development firm, according to the criminal indictment.
HOMAYOUN ZADEH
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Zadeh is a tenured associate professor at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and director of the university’s Advanced Education Program in Periodontology. He received his bachelor’s degree at UCLA before attending USC’s dentistry school.
ROBERT ZANGRILLO
Charge: Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Zangrillo is the lead investor of a controversial Miami development project, the Magic City Innovation District — a plan that would redevelop a historically black, immigrant area of Little Haiti into luxury shops and apartments.
