What happened
“The largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted.” Those aren’t our words. That is a direct quote from United States attorney, Andrew Lelling.
The forty arrested participants read like a “who’s who” of Hollywood stars and wealthy executives. (Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin may be the most recognizable names on the list.) Their alleged actions? They hired William Rick Singer, owner of The Edge College & Career Network. For ‘donations’ ranging from $200,000 to $6.5 million, Singer helped the applicants cheat on standardized exams and/or falsified athletic accomplishments.
“Beginning in or about 2011, and continuing through the present, the defendants—principally individuals whose high-school age children were applying to college—conspired with others to use bribery and other forms of fraud to facilitate their children’s admission to colleges and universities in the District of Massachusetts and elsewhere, including Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California, and the University of Southern California-Los Angeles,” states an affidavit supporting the indictment.
Disclaimer
Please remember all of these are allegations at this point. Additionally, we don’t wish to focus on the particular practices allegedly used to propagate the alleged scam. Accordingly, we’ll leave those details out of our blog. Besides, there is a good chance additional light will be shed on these practices at the future trials. We wouldn’t be surprised if much of what is currently being reported is eventually contradicted.
Why these alleged activities always end badly
Instead we want to focus on why these types of alleged operations should always be avoided at all costs. First, we will bypass the “it’s wrong” argument. Ultimately, if that was adequate incentive for all readers, there would be no need to provide additional thoughts on this topic.
Here are some other reasons these types of alleged operations are always to be avoided. Jail time. Pretty simple, right? The harm done to your family is a second reason. Perhaps only one child needed illegal assistance. Unfortunately, any other children will be similarly stigmatized. Why should anyone believe they were admitted on their own merits? Finally, it blows our minds that these alleged actions that involve so many people go on for so long. Certainly, we understand the prosecutors need time to build their cases and attempt to prosecute as many law breakers as possible. Nonetheless, it only takes one person to feel guilty, tell a spouse who later turns on them, get ensnared in something else and look to mitigate those charges, etc. to bring down such a ruse.
