Famous names like Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, and designer Mossimo Giannulli have drawn most of the attention in the college admission scandal, which made headlines on Tuesday. While federal agents were arresting the rich and famous who paid handsomely to get their children's academic and athletic records falsified, agents were also rounding up coaches and athletic department personnel from some of the nation's most elite universities, including:
Donna Heinel - USC senior associate athletic director (records indicate that she received over $1.3 million in bribes).
Jovan Vavic - USC water polo coach
Laura Janke - USC assistant women's soccer coach
Ali Khosroshahin - USC head women's soccer coach
John Vandemoer - Stanford sailing coach
Michael Center - University of Texas men's tennis coach
Rudy Meredith - Yale women's head soccer coach
Jorge Salcedo - UCLA soccer coach
Bill Ferguson - Wake Forest women's volleyball coach
Gordie Ernst - Georgetown head tennis coach
Bribes paid to these individuals reached well into six figures.
Admissions consultant William Singer who was the mastermind behind the bribery network, pleaded guilty to chargers of: racketeering conspiracy; money laundering conspiracy; conspiracy to defraud US; and obstruction of justice. In addition to falsifying admission documents, Singer also doctored photos to make it look like the applicants had participated on high school sports teams and assured parents that he had "ins" with many of the coaches and administrators, especially at USC.
Singer facilitated bribes to current and former coaches to designate prospective students as recruited athletes, which would lower the academic standards for admission. Most of these "athletic recruits" had not participated in the sport during high school and were never actually on the teams they were recruited for once enrolled at the university.
Photos: Getty Images
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