Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin among dozens charged in alleged college cheating scam

[elisabettaverde]

From many news sources, including this one: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2019/03/13/asu-reacts-to-higher-ed-scandal/
As a parent you have to provide growth opportunities for your children but remember that they may thrive in different settings.

So the shade on ASU really irked me. My son just graduated from there last June from the business school, and he and his roommates all obtained good jobs in their field, immediately upon graduation. They had opportunities to interact with professionals in the real world and were recruited at numerous career fairs. He was a “chill” high school student and I worried but ASU helped him develop skills in the business world.

My daughter, on the other hand, has always been a driven, focused student and is finishing up her freshman year at Berkeley, her top choice. And we spent 3 years looking for just the right prep classes, sports, musical activities, community events, you name it, to make her competitive.
And, coincidentally DH and I are USC alumni and she was not admitted there, but was accepted to Cal and UCLA, hmmm. I may just have to remove that license plate!
Needless to say, with this scandal, my DH and I are “all in our feelings”, but DD feels just fine.

 

[VickyB]

No one except for the defense & their clients know their defense strategy. I've looked online as to how Springer initially connected with the defendants, I have not found the connection. Did the parents find Springer through word of mouth, or did Springer reach out to the wealthy for potential clients?

That is an excellent question!!!

 

[VickyB]

If this article is accurate, LL sought Singer out for his services. Hmmm.

https://www.instyle.com/news/how-lori-loughlin-met-rick-singer

By now, Lori Loughlin's connection to Rick Singer is clear. He allegedly helped the actor's daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli, gain admission to USC — and his method of "helping" wasn't exactly innocent.

Singer reportedly forged paperwork and did other nefarious things, such as help fix test scores, to get Loughlin's daughters and other prospective students into the prestigious university and others like it. In Loughlin's case, it all came to the tune of $500,000. Until today, it was unclear how Loughlin and singer initially met. Turns out, it was allegedly through her friends, who had also used his services and actually recommended him.

According to People, Loughlin's friends told her that Singer was "the best," though the magazine's sources say that she had no idea that his specific technique included bribery and misrepresentation. People adds that several of her friends were familiar with Singer's successful track record and spoke highly of him, which could have been why Loughlin was so gung-ho about the situation. It's unclear if any of those friends are also facing legal action for their association with Singer and his company.

LMAO. What did she think her 500K was for?

 

[daisychainz]

No one except for the defense & their clients know their defense strategy. I've looked online as to how Springer initially connected with the defendants, I have not found the connection. Did the parents find Springer through word of mouth, or did Springer reach out to the wealthy for potential clients?

It was word of mouth or being close to someone who already knew (like the counselor/sports coach). Many parents came from the same Orange County, CA school and there was one article from Northern CA where one of the arrested fathers now hates another arrested father (also from Northern CA) because apparently father 1 told father 2 where to go to find Singer and his team and father 2 started to spread it all around with everyone. Father 1 blames him for getting them caught and arrested and gave an interview (or quotes) fairly soon after his arrest blaming that father. I guess it was supposed to not get spread too widely. The articles where I saw this were online and published fairly soon after the initial arrests.

 

[Addicted to bags]

It was word of mouth or being close to someone who already knew (like the counselor/sports coach). Many parents came from the same Orange County, CA school and there was one article from Northern CA where one of the arrested fathers now hates another arrested father (also from Northern CA) because apparently father 1 told father 2 where to go to find Singer and his team and father 2 started to spread it all around with everyone. Father 1 blames him for getting them caught and arrested and gave an interview (or quotes) fairly soon after his arrest blaming that father. I guess it was supposed to not get spread too widely. The articles where I saw this were online and published fairly soon after the initial arrests.

Yeah blame it on Father #2, don't take any responsibility yourself.

 

[DD101]

LMAO. What did she think her 500K was for?

I believe I read somewhere that she's trying to spin it as a donation of sorts......good luck Becky!!!!

But how on earth will she explain away the photos of her girls portraying them as athletes? LOL.....such a fool.

 

[Ceeyahd]

.

I believe I read somewhere that she's trying to spin it as a donation of sorts......good luck Becky!!!!

But how on earth will she explain away the photos of her girls portraying them as athletes? LOL.....such a fool.

the family facing various charges. If they can explain away or justify the donation or her believing it was an authentic a donation, the tax evasion or fraud charges will be gone, along with I think money laundering? So there are some benefits to playing naive or ignorant. what if she really thought it was a donation of sorts and didn't realize it was payoff money, Springer could have said it was a donation but for him it was payoff money or money in his own pocket. To clarify I'm not making excuses for this family.

 

[Flatsy]

Yeah, the Gianullis are not entirely off base by thinking there might not be enough evidence to show that they knew exactly what their money was being used for, and that is crucial to the money laundering and honest services fraud charges.

Lori is saying the $50k per kid that they paid to bribe the crew coach they thought was a donation to USC. Singer had them send the check to "Donna Heinel, Senior Women's Associate Athletic Director, c/o of USC Athletics." It's not like they were asked to give the woman a parcel of cash in a back alley. They were told to pay with a check and make it out with a bunch of official USC titles all over it.

Then there's the $200k per kid they paid to Singer's charity. In the tapes, Singer talks about how his foundation disburses a lot of money and is carefully monitored by the IRS. It does kind of sound like he presented this to Lori like a legit charity. The only thing he told her was that if anybody asked, she couldn't say her donation was in exchange for any services. But you know, that's something that happens a lot when charity rules are involved. (Officially, wink wink, this is a donation and there's no quid pro quo.)

Yes, the whole family lied to the USC admissions board about the girls rowing crew. I'm not even sure that's illegal though.

 

[Encore Hermes]

Possible
https://brobible.com/culture/article/wiretapped-conversations-lori-loughlin-scam-college/

 

[Murphy47]

Possible
https://brobible.com/culture/article/wiretapped-conversations-lori-loughlin-scam-college/

Depends on what the NCAA has to say about it.

 

[berrydiva]

From many news sources, including this one: https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2019/03/13/asu-reacts-to-higher-ed-scandal/
As a parent you have to provide growth opportunities for your children but remember that they may thrive in different settings.

So the shade on ASU really irked me. My son just graduated from there last June from the business school, and he and his roommates all obtained good jobs in their field, immediately upon graduation. They had opportunities to interact with professionals in the real world and were recruited at numerous career fairs. He was a “chill” high school student and I worried but ASU helped him develop skills in the business world.

My daughter, on the other hand, has always been a driven, focused student and is finishing up her freshman year at Berkeley, her top choice. And we spent 3 years looking for just the right prep classes, sports, musical activities, community events, you name it, to make her competitive.
And, coincidentally DH and I are USC alumni and she was not admitted there, but was accepted to Cal and UCLA, hmmm. I may just have to remove that license plate!
Needless to say, with this scandal, my DH and I are “all in our feelings”, but DD feels just fine.

I probably would feel fine too if I got into my top choice and it wasn't the same school that was part of the scandal lol.

 

[berrydiva]

In still amused at how shocked people are by this scandal.

 

[gracekelly]

In still amused at how shocked people are by this scandal.

I and others realize that donations have always been made to schools to enable family members to attend and/or continue the family name and heritage of attending XYZ university. I think the shock factor is coming from the creative means that were used to do this. You have to admit that using the rowing team or water polo team and mocking up photos or info to use to get the child admitted is pretty creative. Personally, I am upset with the SAT people being so sloppy and easily corrupted and how easy it was to pay off people to look the other way. All of this supports the point of view that the college diploma is worth nothing in many instances because it was obtained in such a fraudulent fashion. These parents didn't want an education for their children as much as they wanted them to go to a name school that they could boast about to their frenemies. I'd love to know what percentage of the children who obtained these college admissions actually considered learning something or were there to party away their 4 years.

 

[berrydiva]

You have to admit that using the rowing team or water polo team and mocking up photos or info to use to get the child admitted is pretty creative. Personally, I am upset with the SAT people being so sloppy and easily corrupted and how easy it was to pay off people to look the other way.

Personally, I don't find it all that creative, shocking or surprising. This is the reason people have advocated affirmative action/socio-economic diversity/spots for students from rural areas or first-gens and constantly tried to bring light of people with wealth/entitlements using it to get over because nonsense like this happens. The SATs have been biased for ages and people have scammed them for a very long time. All this scandal has proved, to me, is just how much people refused to listen to those who have been disenfranchised, unable to afford the resources, and those coming from poorer school districts. It had to be put in their face by a few Hollywood moms, who previously were seen as wholesome, for it to be believed.

 

[Ceeyahd]

Personally, I don't find it all that creative, shocking or surprising. This is the reason people have advocated affirmative action/socio-economic diversity/spots for students from rural areas or first-gens and constantly tried to bring light of people with wealth/entitlements using it to get over because nonsense like this happens. The SATs have been biased for ages and people have scammed them for a very long time. All this scandal has proved, to me, is just how much people refused to listen to those who have been disenfranchised, unable to afford the resources, and those coming from poorer school districts. It had to be put in their face by a few Hollywood moms, who previously were seen as wholesome, for it to be believed.

All we can do now is hope for some real change.