Mastermind of vast U.S. college admissions fraud scheme faces sentencing
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[January 04, 2023]
By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) - The architect of the largest U.S. college admissions
fraud scheme ever uncovered will be sentenced on Wednesday for helping
wealthy parents secure the admission of their children to elite
universities through cheating and bribery.
Federal prosecutors in Boston are seeking a six-year prison term for
William "Rick" Singer. The former college admissions consultant played a
key role as a cooperating witness in the "Operation Varsity Blues"
investigation.
Because he cooperated, his lawyers argue U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel
should sentence him to just 12 months of home confinement, or if
incarceration is deemed necessary, six months in prison.
Prosecutors also want Singer, 62, to pay $10.6 million in restitution to
the Internal Revenue Service for his failure to pay taxes on the
proceeds of his illegal scheme and forfeit about $8.7 million in money
and assets.
Singer admitted in 2019 to facilitating cheating on college entrance
exams and funneling money from wealthy parents to corrupt university
coaches to secure the admission of their children as fake athletic
recruits.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/culligan_sda_HFH_2022.png)
The years-long investigation into the scheme resulted in the conviction
of more than 50 people, including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity
Huffman, two of the many wealthy parents Singer had as clients.
Prosecutors have said Singer's decision in 2018 to cooperate with their
investigation and allow the FBI to record calls he placed to clients
allowed them to prosecute dozens of parents, coaches and associates of
Singer's.
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![](../images/010423PIX/news_j31.jpg)
William "Rick" Singer leaves the federal
courthouse after facing charges in a nationwide college admissions
cheating scheme in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 12, 2019.
REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jan/04/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_122722.png)
But prosecutors in a filing last week told Zobel that while Singer's
"unprecedented" cooperation deserved credit, his crimes warranted
the longest sentence of any "Varsity Blues" defendant.
Overall, Singer paid out more than $7 million to bribe coaches and
administrators at schools including Georgetown University, the
University of Southern California, Yale University and Stanford
University.
Singer took in more than $25 million from his clients while running
a California-based college admissions counseling service called The
Key and a related charity.
His lawyers in court papers argue a non-prison sentence is warranted
his cooperation and because he is "already serving a life sentence
of sorts" after losing his assets, business and the trust of friends
and family.
Singer, who now lives in a Florida trailer park, in a court filing
last week wrote that he lost everything by "ignoring what was
morally, ethically, and legally right in favor of winning what I
perceived was the college admissions 'game.'"
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi
and Lisa Shumaker)
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