Another Varsity Blues parent sentenced

[Corraleno]

LA businessman Devin Sloane was sentenced today to 4 months in prison and a $95,000 fine for paying $250K to get his son into USC as a fake water polo player. His lawyers asked for no jail time, just 2000 hrs of community service, but the judge said that's not really punishment for someone who already does community service. The lawyers also tried to claim that it was really Singer's fault, that if Singer hadn't lured Sloane into it, he wouldn't have committed a crime, which the judge basically laughed off.

Next up is Stephen Semprevivo, who will be sentenced on Thursday. He paid $400K to get his kid into Georgetown as a tennis recruit — and the kid is suing Georgetown saying they have no right to kick him out because it's their fault they didn't scrutinize his application better!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/24/usc-college-admissions-scandal-dad-faces-prison-paying-250-k/2373143001/

[Chris in VA]

Privileged morons, all of them. makes me so angry til I realize it isn't worth the energy. 

Then a modicum of compassion kicks in. Could it be these people are, ultimately, full of fears for their children? That I can relate to, even if I wouldn't go down the path they did. 

[gstharr]

"I find that’s at issue in all of these cases. It’s not basic care-taking for your child. It’s not getting your child food or clothing. It’s not even getting your child an education. It’s getting your child into a college that you call ‘exclusive"  What bothers me most is that every one of these admissions caused the exclusion of an otherwise meritorious applicant. For the rejected  student it could be ho hum, or life altering.    I would punish years on that ground alone. 

[Farrar]

Bring 'em all down.

I feel bad for the kids who didn't realize the extent to which their way was being paved - through a mix of willful ignorance and parental shielding. But the kids who were sports recruits - I don't know how they didn't know.

[teachermom2834]

The thing about these exclusive schools is that people who are not of significant financial means see it as a way to a better life. It’s a chance at upward mobility for students to go and meet important people, have access to that lifestyle and make connections that can help them in a way they can’t in their own social circle. The craziest part, to me, is that these students wrapped up in this are the exact kids that didn’t need the elite college as a step up. Felicity Huffman’s daughter didn’t need USC to break into acting. She already had all the connections. The students who bought their way in already had all the money and power to be successful at their disposal. 

I’m not sure how I feel about jail time, honestly. I don’t feel bad for the parents at all but when they start talking years for Lori Loughlin I’m not sure the punishment fits the crime. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but it seems excessive. I guess I am jaded in that I don’t feel like those kids stole a spot from some super deserving kid of middle or lower class means. I feel like they stole a spot from another rich kid who is doing just fine. 

[bethben]

So, all the parents are getting convicted.  We’re there people on he other side taking the bribes?  What about those people?  If some kid gets recruited to play tennis by a large donation from his parent, where are the college employees who took that “donation”?  You can’t bribe someone who refuses to take the money.

[Jyhwkmama]

30 minutes ago, bethben said:

So, all the parents are getting convicted.  We’re there people on he other side taking the bribes?  What about those people?  If some kid gets recruited to play tennis by a large donation from his parent, where are the college employees who took that “donation”?  You can’t bribe someone who refuses to take the money.

 

The man who organized the whole thing and the coaches involved in the scam are all in trouble. There was no donation. The coaches were paid a kick back. That money did not go to the college. They have been arrested/indicted.

 

 

[Corraleno]

6 hours ago, Farrar said:

Bring 'em all down.

I feel bad for the kids who didn't realize the extent to which their way was being paved - through a mix of willful ignorance and parental shielding. But the kids who were sports recruits - I don't know how they didn't know.

Some did know, and even posed for the fake athlete photos (including the Giannuli girls), but in some cases the students truly had no idea. Singer paid an ex-coach to create the fake athlete profiles, and in cases where the parents did not want the kids to know anything, they either photoshopped the kid's face onto someone else's photo or just stole someone else's photo entirely. Sometimes Singer had the student rewrite their essay to focus on the fake sport, but other times he did it himself without their knowledge. Keep in mind that Singer was a well-known college consultant, and lots of parents used him legitimately without faking test scores or athlete profiles. So the students were working with him for test prep, essay writing, getting recommendations, getting their applications submitted, etc., so it wouldn't seem suspicious to a busy senior in an expensive private school that this highly paid consultant would be finalizing their application for them. 

One parent called Singer in a panic saying that when her son went to register for classes, the advisor said they'd have to work around his track schedule and the kid was totally confused and said there was a mistake because he wasn't an athlete, so the advisor "was going to look into it." Singer immediately alerted the folks in the athletic department and they removed the athlete designation from his file, noting that he was injured and would not be competing.

[Corraleno]

4 hours ago, bethben said:

So, all the parents are getting convicted.  We’re there people on he other side taking the bribes?  What about those people?  If some kid gets recruited to play tennis by a large donation from his parent, where are the college employees who took that “donation”?  You can’t bribe someone who refuses to take the money.

They've all been indicted. Some signed plea deals (the Stanford coach was already sentenced), some are fighting it and will go to trial, and some (including Singer) cooperated with the investigation and prosecutors are waiting to see how the other trials go, if they need those people as witnesses, etc., before they ask for sentencing. 

Also, not all the parents have been convicted. About half the parents took plea deals and are awaiting sentencing, and the other half, including Loughlin & Gianulli, entered not guilty pleas and intend to go to trial.

[SKL]

I still don't understand why, if you had hundreds of thousands of dollars to drop on a bribe, you wouldn't use that money for some legit path for your kid.

Guess I was born into the wrong circle.

[Corraleno]

6 hours ago, teachermom2834 said:

The thing about these exclusive schools is that people who are not of significant financial means see it as a way to a better life. It’s a chance at upward mobility for students to go and meet important people, have access to that lifestyle and make connections that can help them in a way they can’t in their own social circle. The craziest part, to me, is that these students wrapped up in this are the exact kids that didn’t need the elite college as a step up. Felicity Huffman’s daughter didn’t need USC to break into acting. She already had all the connections. The students who bought their way in already had all the money and power to be successful at their disposal. 

I’m not sure how I feel about jail time, honestly. I don’t feel bad for the parents at all but when they start talking years for Lori Loughlin I’m not sure the punishment fits the crime. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it but it seems excessive. I guess I am jaded in that I don’t feel like those kids stole a spot from some super deserving kid of middle or lower class means. I feel like they stole a spot from another rich kid who is doing just fine. 

Just to clarify, Felicity Huffman was never involved with the recruiting scam, she only paid to boost her daughter's test scores. Her daughter has legitimate learning disabilities and would have qualified for extra time, but Huffman was worried it would not be enough so she paid to have the scores "corrected." Sofia would have applied to colleges on her own merits except for the test scores, but her mother was arrested while she was still in HS, so college plans are on hold.

Regarding Loughlin's jail time, I don't think there's any chance she will get "years." I would be surprised if she even gets a year, given that Sloane only got 4 months. Loughlin and Giannuli have additional charges, since they refused the plea deal, and they paid for 2 kids, not 1, but I would still be very very surprised if they even got a year each. 

The thing about the fake athletic recruits is that they directly stole a spot from an actual athlete who would have earned that spot through his or her own hard work and talent. Whether that student is rich, poor, or middle class, they still deserved to be accepted or rejected fairly, based on their own skills. Instead they lost their spot at what may have been their dream college because the coach sold it for cash to some kid who didn't even play the sport.
 

[MysteryJen]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

The thing about the fake athletic recruits is that they directly stole a spot from an actual athlete who would have earned that spot through his or her own hard work and talent. Whether that student is rich, poor, or middle class, they still deserved to be accepted or rejected fairly, based on their own skills. Instead they lost their spot at what may have been their dream college because the coach sold it for cash to some kid who didn't even play the sport.
 

This.

Roster spots are hard to come by in men's non-revenue sports. We are not even talking about scholarships, just a spot to compete. It doesn't even need to be a dream school- it could have just been a school to continue an athletic dream.

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, MysteryJen said:

This.

Roster spots are hard to come by in men's non-revenue sports. We are not even talking about scholarships, just a spot to compete. It doesn't even need to be a dream school- it could have just been a school to continue an athletic dream.

And at least one fake recruit actually did get a scholarship — the son of the Chinese woman who was just arrested last week. She paid $400K, including $100K paid directly to the UCLA soccer coach, who awarded her son a 25% scholarship even though he didn't play soccer. Whether the kid ended up actually using* the scholarship or not, that directly affected at least one other recruit, and possibly more, if they either lost their spot at UCLA or had to turn down an offered spot because they didn't get enough money to make it affordable.

*(UCLA is one of the Power 5 schools where athletic scholarships are guaranteed for 4 years and can't be revoked for poor performance or injury. So it is theoretically possible for a fake athlete to use an athletic scholarship for at least a year by claiming injury, or just by suiting up and playing like crap. As long as they remain academically eligible, they will not lose the scholarship.)

[Farrar]

4 hours ago, Corraleno said:

Some did know, and even posed for the fake athlete photos (including the Giannuli girls), but in some cases the students truly had no idea. Singer paid an ex-coach to create the fake athlete profiles, and in cases where the parents did not want the kids to know anything, they either photoshopped the kid's face onto someone else's photo or just stole someone else's photo entirely. Sometimes Singer had the student rewrite their essay to focus on the fake sport, but other times he did it himself without their knowledge. Keep in mind that Singer was a well-known college consultant, and lots of parents used him legitimately without faking test scores or athlete profiles. So the students were working with him for test prep, essay writing, getting recommendations, getting their applications submitted, etc., so it wouldn't seem suspicious to a busy senior in an expensive private school that this highly paid consultant would be finalizing their application for them. 

One parent called Singer in a panic saying that when her son went to register for classes, the advisor said they'd have to work around his track schedule and the kid was totally confused and said there was a mistake because he wasn't an athlete, so the advisor "was going to look into it." Singer immediately alerted the folks in the athletic department and they removed the athlete designation from his file, noting that he was injured and would not be competing.

I guess that sort of thing is why I think they must have figured it out though. I know that not all of them faked the photos actively. But then they got on campus and had to "attend one meeting" and things like that. What did they think was even happening?

[sassenach]

5 hours ago, SKL said:

I still don't understand why, if you had hundreds of thousands of dollars to drop on a bribe, you wouldn't use that money for some legit path for your kid.

Guess I was born into the wrong circle.

I have the same thoughts. Geez, is Georgetown really worth 400K? I think I must be showing my middle-class by thinking there are better ways to push your kid ahead in life...

[Frances]

2 hours ago, MysteryJen said:

This.

Roster spots are hard to come by in men's non-revenue sports. We are not even talking about scholarships, just a spot to compete. It doesn't even need to be a dream school- it could have just been a school to continue an athletic dream.

Is this more at the Division I level? At my D3 LAC pretty much anyone who wanted to could participate in most team sports, and I don’t think we were unique in our conference. In fact, coaches were often trying to get people who had participated in high school to compete in college or even in some cases, to try a sport for the first time. One of my friends didn’t even make the JV soccer team at his very large high school, but played D3 soccer for four years in college. I do know that the Ivy League is unique in that it has so many different varsity sports, including some of the more obscure ones. So I can see how there are fairly limited spots overall for sports that not many schools at any level offer like squash, sailing, gymnastics, etc. or if you only want to compete at the D1 or maybe D2 level.

[catz]

5 hours ago, Corraleno said:

The thing about the fake athletic recruits is that they directly stole a spot from an actual athlete who would have earned that spot through his or her own hard work and talent. Whether that student is rich, poor, or middle class, they still deserved to be accepted or rejected fairly, based on their own skills. Instead they lost their spot at what may have been their dream college because the coach sold it for cash to some kid who didn't even play the sport.
 

Well, I wish we could say this is the only legal or illegal activity that comes into play when talking about certain people getting an advantage in admissions offices.  Via athletic recruiting or other.  But I have a feeling this is just the tip of the iceberg.  

Edited September 26, 2019 by FuzzyCatz

[Frances]

9 minutes ago, sassenach said:

I have the same thoughts. Geez, is Georgetown really worth 400K? I think I must be showing my middle-class by thinking there are better ways to push your kid ahead in life...

In some cases I’m not sure it’s so much about pushing your kids ahead in life, as it is giving the parents (and probably kids) bragging rights and an attempt to buy their way into a certain class of people that are both wealthy and went to the most elite schools. At least some of the parents involved didn’t go to college at all, and some others did not go to the types of schools they were paying bribes to get their kids admitted to. Certainly there are many other schools with strong alumni networks their children could have attended, and that, combined with all of their own wealth and connections, would likely be way more than enough to set junior up for life. Heck, even just their own wealth and connections would probably be enough. 

 

[MysteryJen]

No scholarships at the D3 level. Most middle class athletes we know are trying to get some money for scholarships at D2 or D1 level.

 

[Frances]

Just now, MysteryJen said:

No scholarships at the D3 level. Most middle class athletes we know are trying to get some money for scholarships at D2 or D1 level.

 

Yes, I realize that. I was just responding to the part about even getting a roster spot without scholarship money. That’s why I wasn’t sure if you were only talking about spots at D1 schools.

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Farrar said:

I guess that sort of thing is why I think they must have figured it out though. I know that not all of them faked the photos actively. But then they got on campus and had to "attend one meeting" and things like that. What did they think was even happening?

 

Some of the parents really went to great lengths to keep their kids from knowing. In those cases, all correspondence with the school went through Singer, so all the student ever received was the normal paperwork in the spring when everyone else got their acceptances. There were multiple discussions about that in the recorded conversations between Singer and the parents, going over the logistics of how to make sure the kid would never find out. For example, Singer handled all the NCAA stuff, including directing parents to get a sealed transcript from the HS to mail to NCAA, so the school counselor would not know they were registering. Parents intercepted any mail to their kids, and were instructed to ignore the athlete orientation dates and just register for a regular orientation date. At USC, where the bulk of the fake recruiting occurred, there were multiple people involved in the scheme, including the assistant athletic director, who was able to insert notes in files even before students started classes about them being injured and unable to compete.

In the case I mentioned above, the only interaction the student had that even mentioned athletics was his academic advisor saying "oh, I guess we need to schedule around your track practice" and he told her that there was a mistake in the file because he wasn't an athlete. The parent alerted Singer who alerted the assistant director at USC, who quickly took care of it. I don't think that would necessarily raise any red flags for the kid, since there are clerical errors like that at any big university, and if you have no clue how athletic recruiting even works, let alone that some parents cheat the system with bribery, I can totally believe the kid just assumed it was a clerical error (like another kid with a similar name who was a track athlete). His was a case where they used a photo of an entirely different kid on the athletic profile, they didn't even photoshop his face in.

In the case of the guy who was sentenced yesterday (Devin Sloane), the student did know what was going on and posed for water polo photos even though he didn't play at all. Ironically, when the HS counselor started questioning how this kid was being recruited as an athlete, the father became enraged at the "breach of privacy," saying the counselor had no right to pry into their business! 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Corraleno

[alewife]

18 minutes ago, Frances said:

Is this more at the Division I level? At my D3 LAC pretty much anyone who wanted to could participate in most team sports, and I don’t think we were unique in our conference. In fact, coaches were often trying to get people who had participated in high school to compete in college or even in some cases, to try a sport for the first time. One of my friends didn’t even make the JV soccer team at his very large high school, but played D3 soccer for four years in college. I do know that the Ivy League is unique in that it has so many different varsity sports, including some of the more obscure ones. So I can see how there are fairly limited spots overall for sports that not many schools at any level offer like squash, sailing, gymnastics, etc. or if you only want to compete at the D1 or maybe D2 level.

The D3 schools in the NESCAC have many athletes who could have played D1, but chose D3 because there is more time to devote to academics.  

One of my sons has a friend who went on a recruiting visit to Georgetown.  The day of his visit was team picture day.  A kid showed up for pictures but didn't stay for practice.  When my son's friend questioned why the kid was not practicing, he was told that he never practices or plays in matches, he just shows up for pictures.  Before I saw any media reports about Georgetown, my son told me this story and said that he bets Georgetown will be involved.  Obviously, he ended up being correct.

[Frances]

2 hours ago, alewife said:

The D3 schools in the NESCAC have many athletes who could have played D1, but chose D3 because there is more time to devote to academics.  

One of my sons has a friend who went on a recruiting visit to Georgetown.  The day of his visit was team picture day.  A kid showed up for pictures but didn't stay for practice.  When my son's friend questioned why the kid was not practicing, he was told that he never practices or plays in matches, he just shows up for pictures.  Before I saw any media reports about Georgetown, my son told me this story and said that he bets Georgetown will be involved.  Obviously, he ended up being correct.

This is my experience, also. The two people I know best who did serious college athletics could have done D1 or at least D2, but chose to do D3 in order to focus on academics. One was on a team that won nationals and was an academic all American and was later accepted to med school. But there were others on the team who were much less accomplished. Obviously they weren’t competing at nationals, but they were still part of the team. My undergrad also had some very serious athletes who were named NCAA scholar athletes and placed high at national events. But there was also room for other less accomplished athletes on most teams.

That’s very interesting about your son’s experience at Georgetown.