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Rick Singer, the mastermind of the elite university fraud scandal in the United States, has been sentenced to prison
PHOTO: BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS
In 2019, a bribery scandal involving admissions to elite universities caused a stir in the USA.
The mastermind behind it was Rick Singer, who has now been sentenced to three and a half years in prison in Boston, Massachusetts.
Show business celebrities, business celebrities and other wealthy parents were involved in the scandal.
They used their wealth to get their children into top-notch universities, even though they didn't meet the entry requirements.
The sentence for the 62-year-old singer is the longest sentence handed down in the case.
The scandal brought the country's top universities into disrepute for exposing the opaque admissions system that favors rich applicants.
The fact that he cooperated with the investigators in 2018 and thereby helped the public prosecutor's office to obtain evidence against other participants, which led to their arrests in March 2019, had a mitigating effect on Singer.
Among those jailed for the scam were Full House actress Lori Loughlin, her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, and Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman.
Athletic coaches from US universities including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown University and the University of California at Los Angeles admitted taking bribes.
Singer pleaded guilty to racketeering and money laundering charges the same day the scandal broke.
Parents deduct bribes from taxes
In another case, investigators learned that a Yale football coach had offered a suspect to help his daughter get accepted into the college for a cash payment.
The trainer at Yale led the authorities to Singer, through whose cooperation the entire scam was solved.
For years, Singer paid those responsible at elite universities for embellished entrance exam results, he bribed trainers to pass off applicants as hopeful sports talents in order to increase their chances of a place at university.
The bribes were usually handled through Singer's apparent charity.
This allowed some of the wealthy parents to disguise the payments as tax-deductible donations.
According to prosecutors, Singer earned more than $25 million from his clients for his illegal services.
He paid bribes totaling more than $7 million and used more than $15 million from his clients for his own benefit.
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