Operation Varsity Blues was the

code name A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...

for the investigation into the 2019

criminal conspiracy In criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit a crime at some time in the future. Criminal law in some countries or for some conspiracies may require that at least one overt act be undertaken in furtherance ...

scandal to influence undergraduate admissions decisions at several top American

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. United States federal prosecutors made the investigation and related charges public on March 12, 2019. At least 53 people have been charged as part of the conspiracy, a number of whom pled guilty. Thirty-three parents of college applicants were accused of paying more than US$25million between 2011 and 2018 to William Rick Singer, organizer of the scheme, who used part of the money to

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

ulently inflate entrance exam test scores and

bribe Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official duty, to act contrar ...

college officials. Of the 32 parents named in a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, more than half had apparently paid bribes to have their children enrolled at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC). Singer controlled the two firms involved in the scheme, Key Worldwide Foundation and The Edge College & Career Network (also known as "The Key"). He pled guilty and cooperated with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) in gathering incriminating evidence against co-conspirators. He said he unethically facilitated college admission for children in more than 750 families. Singer faced up to 65 years in prison, and a fine of $1.25million. In January 2023, he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison plus forfeiture of over $10 million. He was released from prison in August 2024. Prosecutors in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, led by

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

Andrew Lelling Andrew E. Lelling (born 1970) is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts from 2017 to 2021. He is best known for leading Operation Varsity Blues, the federal investigation and prosecution ...

, unsealed

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

s and complaints for

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "''félonie''") to describe an offense that r ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

to commit

mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

and

honest services mail fraud Honest services fraud is a crime defined in (the federal mail and wire fraud statute), added by the United States Congress in 1988. The idea of this law was to criminalize not only schemes to defraud victims of money and property, but also sc ...

against 50 people, including Singer, who has been "portrayed ..as a criminal mastermind", university staff he bribed, and parents who were alleged to have used bribery and

to secure admission for their children to 11 universities. Among the accused parents are prominent business-people and well-known actors. Those charges have a maximum term of 20 years in prison, supervised release of three years, and a $250,000 fine. One month later, 16 of the parents were also indicted by prosecutors for alleged felony conspiracy to commit

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

. This third charge has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a supervised release of three years, and a $500,000 fine. The investigation's name, Operation Varsity Blues, comes from a 1999 film of the same name. The case is the largest of its kind to be prosecuted by the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...

Discovery and charges

The

(FBI) alleged that beginning in 2011, 33 parents of high school students conspired with other people to use

bribery Bribery is the corrupt solicitation, payment, or Offer and acceptance, acceptance of a private favor (a bribe) in exchange for official action. The purpose of a bribe is to influence the actions of the recipient, a person in charge of an official ...

and other forms of

to illegally arrange to have their children admitted to top colleges and universities. Authorities became aware of the scheme around April 2018 when Los Angeles businessman Morrie Tobin, who was under investigation in an unrelated case for alleged

pump-and-dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements (pump), in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price (dump). O ...

conspiracy and

securities fraud Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a deceptive practice in the stock or commodities markets that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information. Tobin, who attended but did not graduate from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, told authorities that the Yale women's soccer head coach, Rudolph "Rudy" Meredith, had asked him for $450,000 in exchange for helping his youngest daughter gain admission to the school. As part of his cooperation with the FBI, Tobin wore a recording device while talking to Meredith in a Boston hotel on April 12, 2018; Meredith subsequently agreed to cooperate with the authorities and led them to Singer. Meredith pleaded guilty as part of his cooperation with the prosecution. Tobin was not charged in this case, but in February 2019 he pleaded guilty in the unrelated securities fraud case.

United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines The United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines are rules published by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that set out a uniform policy for sentencing individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious (Class A) misdemeanors in the Unite ...

, to which judges often refer when deciding sentences, call for between eight and ten years behind bars. According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', ''Vanity Fair'', and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, prosecutors recommended 36 months of supervised release. In addition, Tobin agreed to forfeit $4million as part of his plea deal. Tobin was scheduled for sentencing at a hearing in June 2019, but this did not in fact take place. On March 12, 2019, federal prosecutors in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

unsealed a criminal complaint charging 50 people with

to commit

and

in violation of Title 18

United States Code The United States Code (formally The Code of Laws of the United States of America) is the official Codification (law), codification of the general and permanent Law of the United States#Federal law, federal statutes of the United States. It ...

, Section 1349. Those charges have a maximum term of 20 years in prison, supervised release of three years, and a $250,000 fine. The charges were announced by

for the District of Massachusetts. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric Rosen, Justin O'Connell, Leslie Wright, and Kristen Kearney of the securities and financial fraud unit were assigned as prosecutors of the case. FBI

special agent In the United States, a special agent is an official title used to refer to certain investigators or detectives of federal, military, tribal, or state agencies who primarily serve in criminal investigatory positions. Additionally, some special ...

Laura Smith signed the 204-page affidavit in support of the charges. On April 9, 16 of the original 33 charged parents (

Lori Loughlin Lori Anne Loughlin (; born July 28, 1964) is an American actress. From 1988 to 1995, she played List of Full House and Fuller House characters#Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis, Rebecca Donaldson Katsopolis on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC ...

, her husband Mossimo Giannulli, Gamal Aziz, Douglas M. Hodge, Bill McGlashan, Diane and Todd Blake, I-Hsin "Joey" Chen, Michelle Janavs, Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez, Elisabeth Kimmel, Marci Palatella, John B. Wilson, Homayoun Zadeh and Robert Zangrillo), who had not pleaded guilty to the original charges, were additionally charged with conspiracy to commit

by federal prosecutors in Boston in a superseding indictment. The indictment added those defendants to an existing case against David Sidoo, another of the 33 parents, that was already pending before

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

Nathaniel Gorton. The indictment alleged that the parents engaged in a conspiracy to launder bribes paid to Singer "by funneling them through Singer's purported charity and his for-profit corporation." This third charge has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, supervised release of three years, and a $500,000 fine. Two parents in the scandal, Gamal Aziz and John B. Wilson, did not settle and went to trial. In October 2021, they were both convicted of fraud and bribery conspiracy charges. In February 2022, the two parents were sentenced respectively to 12 months and 15 months in jail as well as fines and community service. Both parents appealed their convictions. On May 10, 2023, the First Circuit vacated most of Aziz and Wilson's convictions. The appellate court found that prosecutors had read honest services fraud too broadly and that universities did not have a property interest in admissions slots. The court affirmed Wilson's conviction for filing a false tax return after he attempted to deduct his bribes from his tax return. Wilson was ultimately sentenced on September 29, 2023 to one year of probation with the first six months to be served in home detention, 250 hours of community service, a fine of $75,000 and restitution in the amount of $88,546. In June 2022, the final defendant in the investigation, Amin Khoury, was acquitted at trial of bribing a Georgetown University tennis coach to get his daughter into Georgetown. Khoury was accused of delivering $180,000 in a paper bag to the tennis coach through a middleman, not involving William Singer. Khoury, who was represented by attorney Roy Black, was the only defendant in the Varsity Blues investigation to gain an acquittal at trial.

Allegations

Federal prosecutors alleged a college-admission scheme that involved: * bribing exam administrators to facilitate

cheating Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert or disobey rules in order to obtain unfair advantages without being noticed. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given pr ...

on college and university entrance exams; * bribing coaches and administrators of elite universities to nominate unqualified applicants as elite recruited athletes, thus facilitating the applicants' admission; * using a

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

to conceal the source and nature of laundered bribery payments. Court documents unsealed in March 2019 detailed a scheme led by William Rick Singer, at the time a 58-year-old resident of

Newport Beach, California Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Located about southeast of downtown Los Angeles, Newport Beach is known for its sandy beaches. The city's harbor once supported maritime indu ...

. Wealthy parents paid Singer to illegally arrange to have their children admitted to elite schools by bribing admissions testing officials, athletics staff, and coaches at universities. Payments were made to Key Worldwide Foundation, a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

owned by Singer and previously granted

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

status; that status allowed him to avoid federal income taxes on the payments, while parents could deduct their "donations" from their own personal taxes. Singer offered college counseling services as The Edge College & Career Network, a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC) is the United States-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of ...

registered in 2012, which he operated out of his home in Newport Beach.

Methods of fraudulent admission

Singer primarily used two fraudulent techniques to help clients' children gain admission to elite universities: cheating on college entrance exams and fabrication of elite sports credentials.Quintana, Chris (March 12, 2019)
Fake disabilities, photoshopped faces: How feds say celebrities, coaches and scammers got kids into elite colleges
''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

''.

Cheating on college entrance exams

Singer arranged to enable clients' children to cheat on the

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and Test score, scoring have changed several times. For much of its history, it was called the Scholastic Aptitude Test ...

or ACT college admission tests. Singer worked with psychologists to complete the detailed paperwork required to falsely certify clients' children as having a

learning disability Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficulty ...

; this in turn gave them access to accommodations, such as extra time, while taking the tests. Singer said he could obtain a falsified disability report from a psychologist for $4,000 to $5,000, and that the report could be re-used to fraudulently obtain similar benefits at the schools. Once the paperwork was complete, Singer told clients to invent false travel plans to arrange to have their child's test locations moved to a test center under his control, either in

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. Parents might also be advised to fabricate a family event that could provide a pretense for the student to take the SAT, ACT, or other test at a private location where Singer could have complete control over the testing process. In some cases, the student was involved directly in the fraud. In others, the fraud was kept secret from the student and corrupt proctors altered tests on their behalf after the fact. In some cases, other people posed as the students to take the tests. Mark Riddell, a

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

alumnus and college admission exam preparation director at

IMG Academy IMG Academy is a University-preparatory school, preparatory boarding school and sports training destination in Bradenton, Florida, United States. The organization is set across over 600 acres (243 ha) and features programs consisting of sport ca ...

, was one of the stand-in test takers who took over two dozen exams; he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit

and honest services mail fraud and one count of money laundering, and agreed to cooperate with investigators. Prosecutors said he was paid $10,000 per test, and the government was seeking to recover almost $450,000 from him in forfeiture. Riddell did not have advance access to the test papers, but was described as "just a really smart guy". He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, but reportedly prosecutors said that because of his cooperation they would instead likely recommend 33 months' imprisonment at his November 1, 2019 (originally July 18) sentencing hearing. According to recorded phone calls, the transcripts of which were included in court filings, Singer claimed that the practice of fraudulently obtaining accommodations such as extra testing time, intended for those with legitimate learning disabilities, was widespread outside of his particular scheme: For example, Jane Buckingham was arrested on March 12, 2019, for allegedly submitting false paperwork saying her son had a learning disability; and paying $50,000 to Key Worldwide Foundation for a proctor to take the ACT on her son's behalf, scoring a 35 out of 36. The goal was entrance to the University of Southern California (USC). Portions of recorded conversations between Buckingham and a cooperating witness were included in the FBI's affidavit.

Fabrication of sports credentials

Singer also bribed college athletics staff and coaches. At certain colleges, these personnel can submit a certain number of sports recruit names to the admissions office, which then views those applications more favorably. Singer used his Key Worldwide Foundation as a money-laundering operation to pay coaches a bribe for labeling applicants as athletic recruits. He also fabricated profiles highlighting each applicant's purported athletic prowess. In some cases, image editing software (e.g.,

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc., Adobe for Microsoft Windows, Windows and macOS. It was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, Thomas and John Knoll. It is the most used tool for professional digital ...

) was used to insert a photograph of a student's face onto a photograph of another person participating in the sport to document purported athletic activity. In one such incident, Michael Center, the men's tennis coach at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

(UT), accepted about $100,000 to designate an applicant as a recruit for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

tennis team. A similar fraud occurred at Yale, where the then-head coach of the women's soccer team, Rudolph "Rudy" Meredith, allegedly accepted a $450,000 bribe to falsely identify an applicant as a recruit. USC's senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel and water polo coach Jovan Vavic allegedly received $1.3million and $250,000, respectively, for similar frauds. They were indicted alongside former USC women's soccer coaches Ali Khosroshahin and Laura Janke. Coaches at two other

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

programs,

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo and

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

sailing coach John Vandemoer, were charged with accepting bribes. Vandemoer admitted that he accepted $270,000 to classify two applicants as prospective sailors, and agreed to plead guilty to a charge of racketeering conspiracy. At Wake Forest, head volleyball coach William "Bill" Ferguson was placed on administrative leave following charges of

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

. Former

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

tennis coach Gordon "Gordie" Ernst is alleged to have facilitated as many as 12 students through fraudulent means while accepting bribes of up to $950,000. On March 20, 2019, the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

(USD) revealed that its former

men's basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

head coach Lamont Smith allegedly accepted bribes. Hours after that revelation, Smith resigned from his position as assistant coach at the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...

. Two San Diego families were accused of paying $875,000 as part of the scheme. A guidance counselor at Buckley School learned that a student had been accepted to

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and

Loyola Marymount University Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...

as an "African-American tennis whiz, ranked in the Top 10 in California" though the student was white and did not play tennis. The student's father denied using an outside admissions consultant before admitting that his family had hired Singer. Bill McGlashan, a

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

investor, allegedly discussed using Adobe Photoshop to create a fake profile for his son as a football kicker to help him get into USC. Similarly, Marci Palatella, wife of former

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

player Lou Palatella, allegedly conspired with Singer to pass her son off as a

long snapper In gridiron football, the long snapper (or deep snapper) is a Center (gridiron football), center on American football positions#Special teams, special teams whose duty is to Snap (gridiron football), snap the football over a longer distance, ty ...

recruit for USC. In one of the most notable cases, actress Lori Loughlin, famous for her role on the American sitcom ''

Full House ''Full House'' is an American television sitcom created by Jeff Franklin for American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The show is about the recently widowed father Danny Tanner who enlists his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis and childhood best friend ...

'' and the drama ''

When Calls the Heart ''When Calls the Heart'' is a Western drama television series inspired by Janette Oke's book of the same name from her ''Canadian West'' series and created by Michael Landon Jr. and Brian Bird. The series began airing on the Hallmark Channel ...

'', and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli of Mossimo fashion, allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes to arrange to have their two daughters accepted into USC as members of the rowing team, although neither girl had participated in the sport. On March 13, 2019, media sources reported that, when news of the scandal broke, Loughlin's younger daughter was on

Rick Caruso Rick Joseph Caruso (born January 7, 1959) is an American billionaire businessman. The founder and former CEO of the real estate company Caruso Affiliated, Caruso, he is also the chair of the board of trustees at the University of Southern Cali ...

yacht A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of ...

with her friend, Gianna, Caruso's daughter. Caruso is the

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of the USC

Board of Trustees A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

. Singer pleaded guilty on March 12, 2019, in the U.S. District Court in Boston to four felony counts of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and

obstruction of justice In United States jurisdictions, obstruction of justice refers to a number of offenses that involve unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investiga ...

for alerting a number of subjects to the investigation after he began cooperating with the government. He faced up to 65 years in prison and a fine of $1.25million. He was sentenced in January 2023, with federal prosecutors asking for six years in prison and Singer's attorneys asking for home detention and community service. Judge Rya Zobel sentenced him to three and a half years in prison, with an additional three years probation as well as over $10 million in restitution to the IRS and forfeiture of millions of dollars in assets. Singer apologized for his actions, saying "I lost my ethical values and have so much regret. To be frank, I’m ashamed of myself."

Involved parties and organizations

A total of 50 people have been charged in the investigations. This number includes 33 parents of college applicants and 11 named collegiate coaches or athletic administrators from eight universities. Numerous other universities were not implicated in the scandal but were themselves victims of Singer's and his clients' actions, such as by considering applications of students with fraudulent test scores.

Key Worldwide Foundation / The Edge College & Career Network

* William Rick Singer, purported college counselor, and author of self-help books for college admission. Singer organized and sold fraudulent college admission services. Singer pleaded guilty and cooperated with the prosecution. * Mark Riddell, a Harvard alumnus and former director of college entrance exams at IMG Academy. Riddell was paid by Singer to fraudulently take admission tests, impersonating the clients' children; he also paid

College Board The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an asso ...

(which develops and administers the SAT and related tests),

Educational Testing Service Educational Testing Service (ETS), founded in 1947, is the world's largest private educational testing and assessment organization. It is headquartered in Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey, Lawrence Township, New Jersey, but has a P ...

, and ACT contractors to deliberately mis-administer the tests. He was fired from IMG Academy and pleaded guilty. Mark Riddell was sentenced to four months in prison and had to forfeit nearly $240,000. * Steven Masera, officer at Singer's companies. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. * Mikaela Sanford, employee at Singer's companies. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.

Other involved conspirators

* Igor Dvorskiy, administrator of standardized tests (including those from ACT and the College Board), and director of an LA-area private school. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. * Martin Fox, Houston tennis academy president. Pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. Sentenced to 3 months in prison, 15 months' supervised release with 3 months' home confinement, $95,000 fine, forfeiture of $245,000 & 250 hours of community service. * Niki Williams, administrator of standardized tests for ACT and College Board, Houston-area assistant high school teacher. Pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud.

Universities and accused personnel

The following universities, their associated athletic programs, and 11 university personnel were involved in the case:

Parents

Officials said Singer had many legitimate clients, who did not engage in any fraud. Singer cited famous clients on his Facebook page while promoting his 2014 book ''Getting In'' and, as a result of this and other public endorsements by Singer, many former clients have made statements to distance themselves and their children from any perceived involvement in the scandal. The table below lists parents in connection with the nationwide college admissions prosecution as listed by

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

, and ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

''. Morrie Tobin is not included in the above total due to the fact that he is an unindicted cooperating witness supporting the prosecution's case. To date, 38 of the indicted parents have either pleaded guilty or have been convicted.

Responses

In response to the scandal, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

(NCAA), the chief governing body for college sports in the United States, announced plans to review the allegations "to determine the extent to which NCAA rules may have been violated".

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Ron Wyden Ronald Lee Wyden ( ; born May 3, 1949) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996 United States Senate special el ...

( D- OR), of the

Senate Finance Committee The United States Senate Committee on Finance (or, less formally, Senate Finance Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate. The committee concerns itself with matters relating to taxation and other revenue measures generall ...

, plans to sponsor a bill making donations to schools taxable if the donor has children attending or applying to the college.Hackman, Michelle (March 15, 2019)
College-Admission Scandal Draws Scrutiny in Washington
, ''

''. Separately, Senators

Chris Coons Christopher Andrew Coons (born September 9, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Delaware, a seat he has held since 2010. A member ...

( D- DE) and

Johnny Isakson John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 until his resignation in 2019 following health concerns. A member of the Republi ...

( R- GA) have agreed to reintroduce 2017 legislation that imposes a fine on colleges and universities that have the smallest proportion of low-income students. One of the parents who was convicted, Robert Zangrillo, was pardoned by President Donald Trump on his final day in office.

Tom Barrack Thomas Joseph Barrack Jr. (born April 28, 1947) is an American private equity real estate investor and the founder and executive chairman of Colony Capital, a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT). Barrack has for decades been a ...

and

Sean Parker Sean Parker (born December 3, 1979) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the file-sharing computer service Napster, and was the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also co-foun ...

were listed by the White House in support of the action, though both denied any advocacy for Zangrillo nor were there donations to Trump him.

Actions taken

Indicted coaches were fired or suspended, or had already left the university at the time of the charges. Mark Riddell, who took tests on behalf of the students, was suspended from his position as director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy and fired a week later. On March 26, 2019, Yale became the first university to rescind the admission of a student associated with the scandal. On April 2, Stanford announced they also expelled a student connected to the fraud. In July 2020, Grand Canyon University ended its relationship with Singer, who was enrolled as a student of the university's psychiatric school since November 2019. The

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

cut its ties to

, star of the program ''

Garage Sale Mystery ''Garage Sale Mystery'' is an American/Canadian mystery film series starring Lori Loughlin as Jennifer Shannon. It is based on the ''Garage Sale Mystery'' book series written by Suzi Weinert. The Hallmark series aired on Hallmark Movies & Myster ...

'' and ''When Calls the Heart'', after she was named as a parent in the indictments. According to '' The Hill'',

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

decided to drop Loughlin from ''Fuller House'' as well. Her younger daughter Olivia Jade also lost her partnerships with TRESemmé and the

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

chain of beauty products. A USC spokesperson confirmed in March that both of Loughlin's daughters remained enrolled at the school, but in October the school's registrar stated they were no longer enrolled. According to the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'', USC scheduled a hearing in March 2019 to determine if Olivia Jade should be designated a "disruptive individual", which would result in her lifetime ban from the university's campus and properties. Loughlin was found guilty and began serving a two-month prison sentence on October 30, 2020. Giannulli, who was also found guilty, began serving a five-month prison sentence on November 19, 2020.

Criminal proceedings

On March 12, 2019, William Singer, the CEO of Edge College & Career Network who masterminded the scandal, pleaded guilty to four criminal charges involving racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and obstruction of justice. On January 4, 2023, William Singer was sentenced to 3.5 years in federal prison, 3 years of supervised release, and forfeiture of over $10 million. On May 13, 2019, actress

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman (born December 9, 1962) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the ABC comedy-drama ''Desperate Housewives'' and her role as Sabrina "Bree" Osbourne, a transgender woman, in the film ''Trans ...

formally pleaded guilty to honest services fraud, which involved hiring someone to take the

using the name of her daughter, Sophia. On September 13, she was sentenced to 14 days in jail, one year of supervised release, fined $30,000 and ordered to undertake 250 hours of

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community contributing to a noble cause. In many cases, people doing community service are compensated in other ways, such as gettin ...

. On October 15, 2019, Huffman reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in

Dublin, California Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay in California, United States. It is located within the Amador Valley of Alameda County, California, Alameda County's Tri-Valley region. It is located along the north side of Interstate 580 (California), ...

, to begin her sentence. She was meant to be released from prison on October 27, 2019, but was released two days early because October 27 fell on a weekend. No charges were filed against Huffman's husband and Sophia's father, actor and director

William H. Macy William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is a two-time Emmy Award and four-time Screen Actors Guild Awards, Screen Actors Guild Award winner, and has been nominated for an Acade ...

. On September 8, 2021, the scandal's first criminal trial, which saw parents John Wilson and Gamal Aziz (also called Gamal Abdelaziz) as defendants, officially began, with jury selection commencing in a Boston federal court. This trial was centered around phony credentials which the two defendants paid to admit their children into the University of Southern California. Both men were convicted by a jury in October 2021, after 10 hours of deliberation. However, in May 2023, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit reversed all of Aziz's convictions and reversed all of Wilson's conviction (except for filing a false tax return).Jonathan Stempel & Nate Raymond
US appeals court overturns first 'Varsity Blues' scandal convictions
Reuters (May 11, 2023). In a 154-page decision, the court determined the trial court had erred by instructing the jury admissions spots were "property" for purposes of the offenses of

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

and

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical (e.g., the U.S. Postal Service) or electronic (e.g., a phone, a telegram, a fax, or the Internet) mail system to defraud another, and are U.S. fede ...

, and Wilson's conviction for

must be overturned because the trial court erred by allowing the admission of "significant amount of powerful evidence related to other parents’ wrongdoing in which these defendants played no part, creating an unacceptable risk that the jury convicted Abdelaziz and Wilson based on others' conduct" rather than evidence they had joined Singer's scheme as conspirators. Aziz would be the only accused parent to avoid punishment. Despite having most of his convictions overturned and evading prison time, Wilson would later be re-sentenced for his false tax return conviction that was upheld. On September 29, 2023, Wilson was sentenced to one year of

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

, with the first six months to be served in

home detention House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays Electronic tagging, electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The p ...

, and 250 hours of community service. He was also ordered to pay a fine of $75,000 and restitution in the amount of $88,546. On March 10, 2022, the first criminal trial involving a former coach, former USC water polo coach Jovan Vavic, began in the same Boston federal court as well. Vavic was the only coach implicated in the case who opted to challenge the charges brought against him in court. On April 9, 2022, a federal jury in Boston convicted Vavic of fraud and bribery. On September 15, 2022, Vavic's conviction was overturned, with Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruling that evidence presented at trial did not determine that the payments “served the defendants’ interests and harmed the university's,” and a new trial was ordered.

Civil lawsuits

In 2019, applicants who had been rejected from elite colleges that had accepted Singer's clients filed two civil lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against the universities and Singer, alleged that they were defrauded of both application fees and a fair admission process.Steven Cohen
Judge Tosses Rejected College Applicants Class Action Following Varsity Blues Scandal
''Top Class Actions'' (June 3, 2020). In 2020, the court dismissed both lawsuits for lack of legal standing, because, "No plaintiff alleges that they applied for, were being considered for, or were denied an athletic spot ... hence, even if the college admissions scheme occurred as plaintiffs claim, no plaintiff was particularly affected by the scheme." In 2024, Wilson accused the University of Southern California of fraud and deceit in a $75 million lawsuit claiming that Singer's advisement to donate $100,000 to the university was confirmed by its water polo coach and an athletics department administrator. USC stated that the suit had no legal merit.

Related cases

In November 2020, former

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

fencing coach Peter Brand and Harvard parent Jie "Jack" Zhao were indicted on bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud after a series of investigative articles in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

''. Although the alleged crimes are not connected to Rick Singer or the broader Varsity Blues conspiracy, the case's discovery and eventual prosecution has been credited to the increased scrutiny on admissions practices that resulted from the greater fallout of the scandal. Both defendants have denied the charges, and the trial was scheduled to begin in December 2022. On December 21, 2022, both defendants Jie "Jack" Zhao and Peter Brand were acquitted of all charges. The jury deliberated for only five hours before returning the not guilty verdicts.

Commentary

After the scandal broke, multiple American news sources including ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', '' Vox'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' characterized it as a symptom of a broken college admissions system.

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law, U.S. constitutional and American criminal law, criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law Sc ...

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

, said it was "the worst scandal involving elite universities in the history of the United States".

Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from Massachusetts (where all the criminal cases were filed), told news media that the scandal represented "just one more example of how the rich and powerful know how to take care of their own". Much of the news coverage attempted to explain why anyone would have been tempted by Singer's scheme. A common attribute among the defendants was that many were rich, but not ultra-rich. According to ''The New York Times'', college admissions at certain elite American universities had become so selective that a family would have to make a minimum donation of $10million to inspire an admission committee to take a second look at their child, and even for families of such means, there would be no guarantee of

return on investment Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is the ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favorab ...

, while Singer was selling certainty. In open court, he said: "I created a guarantee." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' explained that there was probably also a social signaling element at work, in that admission to an elite university based purely upon an applicant's apparent merit publicly validates both the child's innate talent and the parents' own parenting skills in a way that an admission coinciding with a sizable donation does not. In turn, others examined why certain universities had become so selective in the first place. ''The Atlantic'' pointed out that college seats are not scarce in the United States, except at a handful of universities which became selective on purpose: " arcity has the added benefit of increasing an institution's prestige. The more students who apply, and the fewer students who get in, the more selective an institution becomes, and, subsequently, the more prestigious. And parents are clawing over one another to get a taste of the

social capital Social capital is a concept used in sociology and economics to define networks of relationships which are productive towards advancing the goals of individuals and groups. It involves the effective functioning of social groups through interper ...

that comes with that."

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

(ASU) president Michael M. Crow described the "crisis of access to these social-status-granting institutions" as a full-blown "hysteria". It was alleged in court filings that one of the defendant parents had named ASU as a university they were specifically trying to avoid; the non-selective university has been the "butt of jokes" in American television shows for many years. The inevitable result, according to ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', was that the most elite institutions had created a situation in which purely meritocratic admissions had become impossible because they were already turning away too many overqualified candidates—former Harvard president

Drew Gilpin Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian who served as the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or graduat ...

had once said, "we could fill our class twice over with

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

s." It was also recognized that any workable long-term solution would need to alleviate the underlying anxiety driving the crisis, either by restructuring the college admissions process or the American labor market. ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' explained that such anxiety barely exists in Canada, whose four-year universities do not show such extreme disparities in selectivity and prestige, and in turn, most Canadian employers do not rigidly discriminate between job candidates based upon where they graduated. In contrast, selective American universities have evolved into

gatekeeper A gatekeeper is a person who controls access to something, for example via a city gate or bouncer, or more abstractly, controls who is granted access to a category or status. Gatekeepers assess who is "in or out", in the classic words of manage ...

s for the highest echelons of certain socially prestigious and financially lucrative industries like

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

history professor Wilfred M. McClay told ''Newsweek'': "I'm not going to pretend there isn't a difference between Harvard and Suffolk County Community College, but I think this situation where the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

is made up entirely of

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

graduates is wrong. The thing driving the current scandal seems to be that ultimately parents were willing to do anything to game the system to get their kids these advantages, not because the education was better but because the legitimation of social position would be better." Writing for ''The Washington Post'', psychologists Jonathan Wai, Matt Brown and Christopher Chabris cited research on the predictive powers of the SAT and the doubtful value of costly SAT preparation programs, and concluded, "If the SAT were nothing but a wealth test, then Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli and other super-rich parents would not have had to cheat to get their kids into the latter two schools. In reality, they had to fake intellectual ability—the one thing they could not buy."

Documentaries and adaptation

In 2019, Lifetime produced and broadcast a

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a Terrestr ...

about this event called '' The College Admissions Scandal''. The film stars

Penelope Ann Miller Penelope Ann Miller (born Penelope Andrea Miller; January 13, 1964), sometimes credited as Penelope Miller, is an American actress. She began her career on Broadway in the original run of '' Biloxi Blues'' (1985–1986), later appearing in the ...

as Caroline DeVere, Mia Kirshner as Bethany Slade, and

Michael Shanks Michael Garrett Shanks (born December 15, 1970) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for his role as Daniel Jackson in the long-running military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1'' and as Dr Charles Harris in the Canadian medi ...

as Rick Singer. In 2019, Lifetime also released a documentary called ''Beyond the Headlines: The College Admissions Scandal'' with

Gretchen Carlson Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson (born June 21, 1966) is an American broadcast journalist, writer, and television personality. Carlson was born and raised in Minnesota. A talented youth violinist, Carlson competed in a number of music contests befor ...

. On April 4, 2019, three weeks after Operation Varsity Blues' charges were made public, Granite Bay High School debuted '' Ranked'', a new musical. The show, written from 2018 to 2019 by the school's drama teacher and musical director, focused on academic pressure in schools, specifically telling the story of a student whose parents were paying for his grades without his knowledge. The timing of the musical's debut in relation to the scandal earned the high school national attention. Rick Singer worked in the Granite Bay community a decade prior as a college coach for local high school students. A fictionalized account of the events was in the book ''Admissions'' by Julie Buxbaum, released on December 1, 2020. It tells the story from the point of view of the child of a fictional actress who was charged. Netflix released a documentary on the subject, '' Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal'', in 2021, mostly focusing on Singer, played by Matthew Modine. In 2021, Casey Lyons and Caroline Miller wrote and self-produced ''Bars of Ivy: The College Admissions Scandal Musical'' about the scandal from the perspective of a student affected by it.

Notes

References

External links

Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

– contains charging documents and case status of all defendants criminally implicated in the scandal * District Court dockets: *
''United States v. Abbott, et al.'', No. 1:19-mj-06087 (D. Mass.)
*
''United States v. Sidoo, et al.'', No. 1:19-cr-10080 (D. Mass.)
*
''In re Operation Varsity Blues Prosecution'', No. 1:19-mc-91134 (D. Mass.)

The Key Worldwide Foundation website
archived {{Portal bar, Law, United States 2019 controversies in the United States 2019 in American law Bribery scandals Cheating in school Corruption in the United States Fraud in the United States Georgetown University Harvard University Honest services fraud Mail and wire fraud March 2019 in the United States Northwestern University Academic scandals in the United States Stanford University University and college admissions in the United States University of California, Berkeley University of California, Los Angeles University of San Diego University of Southern California University of Texas at Austin Wake Forest University Yale University