I think something important needs to be explained from the legal side of this case. Why the indictment was tendered and sustained was because this was a CONSPIRACY between Singer, the parents, the coaches and whomever was involved in the SAT portion of it. Also, if the applicants were over 18 its possible they conspired. It is one thing for the applicants to stretch the truth or outright lie on their college applications. This would be like handing out a speeding ticket at the indy 500 and the US attorney would not be involved because it is between the applicant and the university and if found out would not really rise to the level of a crime but more of a civil remedy such as expulsion. I am pretty sure there was a discussion that bringing in the parents may be a “stretch” for wire fraud, as there was no monetary gain sought by the parents. They were paying money for a rather abstract goal, i.e. to gain admittance to a highly competitive college. Once the parents wrote this off their taxes as a charitable contribution knowing it was not , it did become a crime. Any criminal defense attorneys care to comment ?
@collegehuh. Rationalization makes us feel better…
What I want to know is with Singer what happened that he went to the deep end ? He had a successful consulting practice and online school. Like does it say when he approached a coach to offer money to get a kid in? I find this fascinating on one level and dispicable on another level. Like how do you go from reputable company to total scum?
Greed. His reputable business made hundreds of thousands. His scum business made millions.
My guess is that initially he had a client that was a borderline recruited athlete and spoke to a coach about the players chances and asking what the student could do to tip the scales, the parents were VERY motivated, etc. Once it worked, it probably just grew and grew.
The LATimes is reporting that subpoenas have gone out to several private schools including Harvard Westlake. So the investigation continues to widen although none of the schools are claimed to be involved criminally.
@Knowsstuff Typically, people don’t just suddenly become corrupt. I imagine that he’s always been shifty with his business dealings.
@TatinG - Thank you for the heads up … here is the link what you just talked about
You are correct @CTscoutmom, a few examples of abuse does not mean that the system cannot work.
And, it is also true that this whole issue is based upon fraud of a magnitude that leaves many of us speechless.
Still, if there are schools that are uniformly using fraudulent excuses to get their students more time for tests, shouldn’t they be stopped?
This may not be the main issue, but it is a big issue for many of us parents with children undergoing the process…
The ACT, specifically, is a time sensitive test. Students who lie about needing extra time are gaming the system.
I haven’t been able to keep up with all of the comments but it seems as if it would be easy for ACT/SAT to look at disability diagnoses from that specific psychiatrist and start your internal investigation there.
Thanks for the LATimes link @LisaNCState. As soon as this scandal broke, my daughter and I were both pretty confident that Sage Hill would be included and there it is.
“Since 1985, or the last 33 years, the Ivy League is 8-34 in the NCAA basketball tournament. Fourty-two NCAA games with 8 wins in 33 years isn’t really competing at the highest level. Not in basketball anyways.”
When Magic Johnson (Michigan State), Larry Bird (Indiana State), and Mark Aquirre (DePaul) played in what was perhaps the greatest ever NCAA Final Four Tournament, the fourth team that year was Princeton.
If these guys were involved in setting up an online high school - and online courses taken by impostors are part of the problem - one assumes the investigation would logically extend there? (What kind of identity verification processs do these schools use, by the way?)
I realize that there exists a large anti-sports-preference in college admissions on cc, but we have hundreds of threads on cc on that topic…many/most colleges, even the Ancient Eight and top LACs (Williams, Amherst), have chosen to spend their dollars on sports recruits. For the anti-sport-hook, there are some colleges that could float your boat…
@LisaNCState , @sportingclaymom , I’m hitting paywall issues with LA times, can one of you do a very brief summary please?
When encountering firewall issues, you can use another browser to access more articles each month. Sometimes using an incognito window will also get you another 3 or 5 articles per month in the same browser.
Not quite; it depends on the score. If it is a true 32/33, then yes, its a small part of the app. If the true score is only a 21/23, then it’s a yuuuggee part of the app, as that is auto-reject category at top schools for (nearly) all non-rev sports absent Olympic caliber athleticism.
IOW, test scores are a hurdle to clear. Once cleared, they don’t mean much (unless its a perhaps a 36). But if the hurdle is not cleared, its a mega-portion of the app.
(Of course, a high score can help mitigate middling-GPA’s for – ahem – hooked applicants.)
“I’m hitting paywall issues with LA times, can one of you do a very brief summary please?”
I read the print edition this morning. The article basically says that high-end prep schools in LA are now looking into their recent students and staff and finding some who worked with Singer to get kids into the Ivy League or equivalents. They are finding some evidence of bribery and other shenanigans of the types already exposed in this scandal.
The prep schools mentioned include Sage Hill School and Loyola High School, but primarily it focuses on the most chi-chi LA prep school of them all Harvard-Westlake, which I hasten to point out has no connection whatsoever to Harvard University except having poached the Harvard name from them.
Bill McGlashan, the biggest fish caught in the college-bribery scandal, has resigned from TPG and the impact-investing fund he started with Bono. Bill is not a household name like Lori or Felicity however he wields a lot of influence in the hedge fund industry.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/14/investing/bill-mcglashan-tpg-college-admissions/index.html
@SJ2727 Not sure if you were able to get past the paywall but it’s discussing how several private high schools’ records have now been subpoenaed. Harvard-Westlake in LA and Sage Hill in Newport Beach. Two of the people indicted were on the board of trustees at Sage Hill who had participated in the scheme to get their own kids into college. It only talks about Michelle Janavs’ daughters, but she also has a son who attends Georgetown. I find it hard to believe she didn’t use these same measures to get him there. That Hot Pocket money being used for all kinds of no good.
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While it personally irks me that some news organizations “hide” its articles behind a paywall, they are allowed to run their business as they see fit. Their reasons for the paywall, though, is not a reason to circumvent the rules of this site. Several posts on a LA Times article deleted. Feel free to repost with a summary and a couple of pertinent quotes.