College Admissions Scandal Exposed By Parent Charged With Fraud

LOS ANGELES, CA — The nation's largest college admissions cheating scandal fell apart on a tip from a parent, seeking to leverage a way out of an unrelated securities investigation, according to multiple reports.

The tipster was a Los Angeles parent, a law enforcement source told the Los Angeles Times. That parent brought down a massive scheme allegedly involving dozens of wealthy and famous parents, coaches at elite universities, a college prep business, and SAT and ACT proctors.

It began when a longtime Yale soccer coach allegedly went outside the normal channels to solicit a bribe directly from parent rather than going through the Newport Beach college prep business that normally coordinated bribes, according to investigators and reports by the Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal.

The scheme, which began in 2011, centered on a Newport Beach college placement firm run by Rick Singer. Wealthy parents paid Singer 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, according to court records. But the Yale soccer coach sought to branch out on his own, according to the Times.

Rudy Meredith, Yale's women's soccer coach for more than two decades, had previously helped Singer fake the soccer credentials of a child of a Singer client, according to court records. But in spring 2018, he solicited a bribe directly from the father of a second Yale applicant. That parent was facing stock fraud charges and saw an opportunity to cut a deal with prosecutors, according to the court papers.

It is unclear whether the father of that applicant was the L.A. parent.

Meredith met with the father in a Boston hotel room, which the FBI had wiretapped, according to court records. At this meeting, the father paid Meredith $2,000 and agreed to eventually spend $450,000 on the effort.

Meredith began cooperating with the government's investigation with the hope of receiving leniency when he is sentenced, according to the government. He has agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, honest services wire fraud and conspiracy. Investigators quickly ensnared other key players in the scheme, who in turn, cooperated with officials. The court records include countless emails and transcripts from recorded phone calls of parents allegedly conspiring to bribe coaches and cheat on SAT and ACT tests and lie about it to the IRS.

The list of parents involved reads like a who's who of the wealthy elite including famous actresses, a fashion designer CEO and money market managers. The fallout continues to grow.

A lawsuit filed Thursday by two Stanford students seeks class-action status on behalf of all students who applied to elite colleges implicated in the massive college admissions cheating scam including UCLA and USC. It alleges honest students were robbed of opportunity by parents, coaches and administrators willing to cheat and use bribery to steal college admissions belonging to more worthy students.

The lawsuit claims honest students trusted in admissions procedures that allegedly turned out to be an "unfair, rigged process." The suit was filed Wednesday in a federal court in San Francisco by attorneys for Stanford students Erica Olsen and Kalea Wood.

The complaint seeks at least $5 million on behalf of what could be thousands of plaintiffs. Also named in the lawsuit as defendants are Stanford, University of San Diego, University of Texas, Wake Forest University, Yale University and Georgetown University.

The scandal already appears to be taking its toll, as The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Hallmark Channel will no longer be working with Loughlin, who has appeared in many of its films.

Loughlin's daughter, 19-year-old social media influencer Olivia Jade, lost her deal with French beauty products maker Sephora on Thursday.

"After careful review of recent developments, we have made the decision to end the Sephora Collection partnership with Olivia Jade, effective immediately," the company said in a statement.

Loughlin has two daughters enrolled at USC, Olivia and Isabella Giannulli. Media reports Thursday said they were planning to withdraw from the school to avoid "bullying."

"We have confirmed that both Olivia Giannulli and Isabella Giannulli still are enrolled," USC officials told City News Service. "USC is conducting a case-by-case review for current students and graduates that may be connected to the scheme alleged by the government and will make informed decisions as those reviews are completed."

City News Service