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A criminal conspiracy to influence admissions to elite American universities was revealed in March 2019 when US federal prosecutors filed charges against at least 50 people, after a year-long investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues”.
Hong Kong’s stressed out parents and students should not overlook the virtues of a less academic path to success.
- The admissions bribery scheme ensnared celebrities and other wealthy parents who bought their children’s way into top-tier universities like Stanford and Yale
- Those jailed for their part in the scandal include Full House actress Lori Loughlin and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman
The two are among dozens, including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, accused of bribery to try to get their children into elite American universities.
The Full House star paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into he University of Southern California.
The businessman allegedly bought coach Peter Brand’s home for nearly double its assessed value in exchange for help getting his sons into the Ivy League school.
Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, paid half a million dollars in bribes to get their daughters into the University of Southern California.
Loughlin is accused of conspiring with a consultant to pass off her two daughters as promising rowing recruits to gain admission to USC.
Xiaoning Sui, who lives in Canada, gave the money to a fake charity run by admissions consultant William ‘Rick’ Singer
Xiaoning Sui has been detained in Spain for months, unlike 33 other parents involved in admissions scandal, who were allowed to post bond and remain out of custody.
Facility has been described as ‘Club Fed’, with past inmates including ‘Hollywood Madam’ Heidi Fleiss.
Full House star allegedly paid US$500,000 to get two daughters into University of Southern California, but school says they are ‘not currently enrolled’ there.
Xiaoning Sui, accused of paying to get her son into UCLA as a fake soccer recruit, has become the 52nd person charged in a sweeping college admissions bribery scheme.
Actress was first of 34 parents in case to be sentenced, and was also given a US$30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and a year of supervised release.
Judge noted that John Vandemoer had not pocketed bribes for his own gain, said prison term would be deemed already served.
William ‘Rick’ Singer has admitted to accepting money in order to get the children of wealthy clients accepted into universities. In a newly uncovered deposition, he also seems to have also lied about his own experience.
Huffman pleaded guilty in federal court to a conspiracy charge related to her payment of US$15,000 to have someone secretly correct her daughter’s answers on the SAT exam.
‘The admissions officers basically do not know who you are’, Zhao Yusi says in a 2017 video in which she also admits her ‘natural IQ isn’t particularly high’.
Michael Wu introduced Chinese family to ‘fixer’ Rick Singer, who was paid US$6.5 million to help a student win acceptance to Stanford.
Sherry Guo’s lawyer says her parents were duped by ‘bad actor’ exploiting language barriers and their unfamiliarity with US higher education system.
Chinese family allegedly paid US$6.5 million to mastermind of college-entry cheating scheme to assure child’s admission to Stanford University, US media reports.
Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman entered no pleas to charges that they cheated and paid bribes to get their children into elite US colleges.
Lawsuits include one by Stanford students who say their degrees will be devalued and several by people whose ‘rights to a fair chance’ were stolen.
