Test administrator to plead guilty, parent faces sentencing over U.S.
college scam
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[November 13, 2019]
BOSTON (Reuters) - A former college
entrance exam administrator is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to
participating in a vast college admissions cheating and fraud scheme,
the same day a wealthy parent is set to face sentencing for his own role
in it.
Federal prosecutors in Boston say that Igor Dvorskiy accepted about
$10,000 in bribes per student to allow a corrupt test proctor to
secretly take SAT and ACT college entrance exams on their behalf or
correct their answers.
His plea will take place hours before title insurance company executive
Toby Macfarlane faces sentencing for conspiring to bribe University of
Southern California employees to secure the admission of his children as
fake athletic recruits.
The two men are among 52 people charged with participating in a scheme
in which wealthy parents conspired with a California college admissions
consultant to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure the
admission of their children to top schools.
William "Rick" Singer, the consultant, pleaded guilty in March to
charges he facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and helped
bribe sports coaches at universities to present his clients' children as
fake athletic recruits.
The 35 parents charged since March include "Desperate Housewives" star
Felicity Huffman, who was sentenced to a 14-day prison term after
pleading guilty, and "Full House" star Lori Loughlin, who is fighting
the charges.
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Dvorskiy, a former director of a private school in Los Angeles,
served as a compensated test administrator for the companies that
run the SAT and ACT college entrance exams, prosecutors said.
He is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering
as part of an agreement to cooperate with authorities in the ongoing
investigation, which has been dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues."
Macfarlane pleaded guilty himself in June to conspiring to commit
mail fraud. Prosecutors have asked a federal judge to sentence him
to a year in prison.
Prosecutors said Macfarlane paid $400,000 in sham consulting fees to
Singer, some of which he passed on to USC coaches as bribes, and
$50,000 to an account controlled by an official who participated in
the scheme.
Those payments helped facilitate the admission of his daughter and
his son to USC as fake soccer and basketball recruits, prosecutors
said.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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