Former Yale Coach Charged In College Admissions Scandal

NEW HAVEN, CT — A massive federal investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” charges nearly 50 people with being part of a vast bribery conspiracy to falsify test scores, student athletic profiles and other documents to get students into highly-competitive universities.

A $1.2 million bribe helped one student get into Yale University under the guise of being a highly-successful soccer player despite the fact that she didn’t competitively play the sport, according to the indictment.

Former Yale University women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud. He is being prosecuted in the District of Connecticut U.S. District Court. Meredith was the head women’s soccer coach at the school between 1995 and November 2018 when he resigned.

The university said in a statement that the school was a victim of a crime and has cooperated with the investigation and will continue to cooperate, according to the Hartford Courant.

Greenwich man and international law attorney Gordon Caplan was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. He allegedly wired $75,000 in order to have his daughter's ACT scores corrected in order for her to get a higher score, according to a criminal complaint. A conversation he had with a cooperating witness was wiretapped. The cooperating witness guaranteed an ACT score in the 30s or any score Caplan wanted within a couple of points.

The conspiracy involved having his daughter diagnosed for a learning disability with a psychologist that would allow for time extension to take the test. She would then take the test with a proctor in California that would change her answers to correct ones, according to the criminal complaint

The witness also said his daughter wouldn't know about the change and would assume she had a very good test day, according to the complaint.

The indictment centers around Edge College and Career Network LLC also known as “The Key,” a for-profit college counseling and preparation business headquartered in California and founded by William Rick Singer. Wealthy parents paid Singer about $25 million between 2011 and 2019 with money going to bribe coaches and college administrators.

Singer is expected to plead guilty Tuesday afternoon. He is charged with racketeering and money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

Singer and others helped facilitate creating false student athlete profiles that depicted prospective students at successful players, however, many didn’t even play the designated sport at any kind of competitive level,according to the indictment.

"These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege," U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew Lelling, said at a Tuesday press conference. Among those charged are actresses, CEOs, a famous fashion designer and a co-chairman of a global law firm.

The Yale Case

Parents of the Yale applicant paid about $1.2 million to Singer to help her get into the prestigious university under the guise that she was a successful soccer player, according to an indictment.

Singer sent Meredith a fabricated athletic profile.

“Meredith designated Yale Applicant 1 as a recruit for the Yale women’s soccer team despite the fact that, as Meredith knew at the time, Yale Applicant 1 did not play competitive soccer,” the indictment alleges.

Singer then mailed Meredith a $400,000 check after the student was successfully admitted to the school.

It wasn’t the only time Meredith attempted to facilitate the admittance of a student under a false guise, according to the indictment. In April 2018 Meredith met with the father of another Yale applicant in Boston, but the meeting was being recorded by the FBI. Meredith said he would designate the applicant as a soccer recruit in exchange for a $450,000 payment, according to a criminal complaint.

Meredith took a partial $2,000 cash payment as a first installment and instructed the father to wire money into an account for future payments. Money was wired into the account, but it was under the control of the FBI, according to the criminal complaint.

Federal prosecutors are seeking more than $557,000 in asset forfeiture from Meredith as a form of judgement.

UCLA, Stanford, Other Schools Affected

Prosecutors have charged 33 parents, nine coaches, two SAT and ACT administrators, one proctor and one college administrator.

Singer helped coordinate cheating on ACT and SAT exams in exchange for bribes. A third party would secretly take the exams in place of actual students or change student exam responses to result in a higher score, according to the indictment.

Bribes were funnelled through a charity. Parents generally paid Singer $15,000 and $75,000 per test, according to the indictment. Part of the bribe was used to pay off test administers

The conspiracy also had others designate four children as recruits for the USC women’s soccer team, despite the fact that none of them played competitive soccer. Bribe payments were also made to a water polo team.

The indictment alleges that Singer helped falsify records for students to get into Yale, USC, Georgetown, UCLA, Wake Forest, Stanford, U-Texas, USD

Additional reporting by Feroze Dhanoa, Patch National Staff