Feds uncover large-scale college entrance exam cheating plot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically, had these people not been greedy in giving the money as charitable donations to claim on their taxes, they may never have been caught?

This Singer guy could have just billed them all as a college consultant and no one would have been alerted to this, correct?

well, it involved 700 people. so at some point, this was all going to come out anyway. the FBI had wiretaps of conversations irrespective of greedy rich people taking tax deductions for bribes.

The FBI has the tapes because they found out that Singer was shady and he started cooperating.

Great advice from attorney Ken White, btw:

“The takedown of this college scandal is so classic. They flip the top guy and then just ride him around the country making recorded calls for a year.

WHEN SOMEONE CALLS AND SAYS "OH HAI REMEMBER THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST YEAR SHALL WE DO IT AGAIN" YOU HANG UP

"THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST TIME WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL BUT I HAVE ONE CONCERN THAT YOUR PARTICIPATION WASN'T KNOWING AND WILLFUL ENOUGH WOULD YOU AGREE THAT YOU WERE KNOWING AND WILLFUL? JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE UP FOR THIS."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

Agree.

In this case, however, she leveraged a new contract related to being a college student influence, hawking dorm gear and so forth. Had she not been in college she would have had to limit herself to makeup, clubs and god knows what else.

Also, Mom said she never had a chance to go to college, and wanted her daughters to have that experience. Perhaps they can experience prison together.

I'm at a total loss as to why her family valued USC or UCLA so much over places like SMU, ASU, Arizona or SEC and lower ranked Big 10 universities she likely could have gotten into as a full-pay dumb rich kid from California? I understand USC and UCLA are more competitive than ever but for a ditz, why were they so obsessed? Doesn't make sense at all. Are there people who think USC is really, really prestigious?

[Anonymous]

I wonder what will happen to the daughter of the CT law partner, Gordon Caplan.

She just sat for the fake test 12/18 - thus she is still in high school and probably a junior! How humiliating for a 16/17 year old who now has to go through the application process under a HUGE microscope. Thanks Dad!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Olivia Jade, Lori Loughlin's daughter, is just the gift that keeps on giving. Here she explaining how her mother MADE her attend college. Starts at 2:25. THIS WAS THREE DAYS AGO!!!!

Lori definitely had no idea what was coming down the pipe.

she's going to have a prison baby with one of the guards.

It will make for good reality TV. They will still end up on their feet.

Richer than ever, actually.

Wow. She had so much going for her in her own right. She should have applied to colleges fair and square. Now she's all wrapped up in this cheating scandal. Thanks a lot, Mom!

So, at least in the case of Olivia Jade, I bet Loughlin didn't give a shit about how prestigious USC was (although maybe her husband did given the dig at ASU); instead, it sounds like OJ really didn't want to go to college and Loughlin knew she would only be convinced to go if she went to a school in LA given her habits/career ambitions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically, had these people not been greedy in giving the money as charitable donations to claim on their taxes, they may never have been caught?

This Singer guy could have just billed them all as a college consultant and no one would have been alerted to this, correct?

well, it involved 700 people. so at some point, this was all going to come out anyway. the FBI had wiretaps of conversations irrespective of greedy rich people taking tax deductions for bribes.

The FBI has the tapes because they found out that Singer was shady and he started cooperating.

Great advice from attorney Ken White, btw:

“The takedown of this college scandal is so classic. They flip the top guy and then just ride him around the country making recorded calls for a year.

WHEN SOMEONE CALLS AND SAYS "OH HAI REMEMBER THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST YEAR SHALL WE DO IT AGAIN" YOU HANG UP

"THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST TIME WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL BUT I HAVE ONE CONCERN THAT YOUR PARTICIPATION WASN'T KNOWING AND WILLFUL ENOUGH WOULD YOU AGREE THAT YOU WERE KNOWING AND WILLFUL? JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE UP FOR THIS."

Well yes. If you deal in illegal activity with shady people. Don't be surprised if they get caught and take you down with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So basically, had these people not been greedy in giving the money as charitable donations to claim on their taxes, they may never have been caught?

This Singer guy could have just billed them all as a college consultant and no one would have been alerted to this, correct?

well, it involved 700 people. so at some point, this was all going to come out anyway. the FBI had wiretaps of conversations irrespective of greedy rich people taking tax deductions for bribes.

The FBI has the tapes because they found out that Singer was shady and he started cooperating.

Great advice from attorney Ken White, btw:

“The takedown of this college scandal is so classic. They flip the top guy and then just ride him around the country making recorded calls for a year.

WHEN SOMEONE CALLS AND SAYS "OH HAI REMEMBER THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST YEAR SHALL WE DO IT AGAIN" YOU HANG UP

"THAT FRAUD WE DID LAST TIME WAS VERY SUCCESSFUL BUT I HAVE ONE CONCERN THAT YOUR PARTICIPATION WASN'T KNOWING AND WILLFUL ENOUGH WOULD YOU AGREE THAT YOU WERE KNOWING AND WILLFUL? JUST WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU'RE UP FOR THIS."

Lololol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

Agree.

In this case, however, she leveraged a new contract related to being a college student influence, hawking dorm gear and so forth. Had she not been in college she would have had to limit herself to makeup, clubs and god knows what else.

Also, Mom said she never had a chance to go to college, and wanted her daughters to have that experience. Perhaps they can experience prison together.

I'm at a total loss as to why her family valued USC or UCLA so much over places like SMU, ASU, Arizona or SEC and lower ranked Big 10 universities she likely could have gotten into as a full-pay dumb rich kid from California? I understand USC and UCLA are more competitive than ever but for a ditz, why were they so obsessed? Doesn't make sense at all. Are there people who think USC is really, really prestigious?

They are also ditzes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder what will happen to the daughter of the CT law partner, Gordon Caplan.

She just sat for the fake test 12/18 - thus she is still in high school and probably a junior! How humiliating for a 16/17 year old who now has to go through the application process under a HUGE microscope. Thanks Dad!!

If they find out she knew, she can be booted from her High School, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

Agree.

In this case, however, she leveraged a new contract related to being a college student influence, hawking dorm gear and so forth. Had she not been in college she would have had to limit herself to makeup, clubs and god knows what else.

Also, Mom said she never had a chance to go to college, and wanted her daughters to have that experience. Perhaps they can experience prison together.

I'm at a total loss as to why her family valued USC or UCLA so much over places like SMU, ASU, Arizona or SEC and lower ranked Big 10 universities she likely could have gotten into as a full-pay dumb rich kid from California? I understand USC and UCLA are more competitive than ever but for a ditz, why were they so obsessed? Doesn't make sense at all. Are there people who think USC is really, really prestigious?

Compared to ASU, yes. Do you know Los Angeles at all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

I doubt social media influencer is a sustainable career. Her influencer career probably will start to decline before her peers graduate from college. Her followers will outgrow or tire of inane posts and there will be younger, hipper, edgier influencers who will replace her before they themselves are replaced.

But like...her parents are multi (x100000) billionaires. Even if her social media career dies out...she will be more than fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

Agree.

In this case, however, she leveraged a new contract related to being a college student influence, hawking dorm gear and so forth. Had she not been in college she would have had to limit herself to makeup, clubs and god knows what else.

Also, Mom said she never had a chance to go to college, and wanted her daughters to have that experience. Perhaps they can experience prison together.

I'm at a total loss as to why her family valued USC or UCLA so much over places like SMU, ASU, Arizona or SEC and lower ranked Big 10 universities she likely could have gotten into as a full-pay dumb rich kid from California? I understand USC and UCLA are more competitive than ever but for a ditz, why were they so obsessed? Doesn't make sense at all. Are there people who think USC is really, really prestigious?

Compared to ASU, yes. Do you know Los Angeles at all?

Yeah, if you want to stay in LA, USC is a no brainer. It's very, very prestigious and desirable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is is the big reveal of others with the mindset of many DCUM posters.

Once, when questioning someone who was trying to use Board connections to facilitate their child's admission, I was chastised: "Come on, we would all use any avenue to increase our child's odds of success."

I did not agree with that poster's values, and am glad that others who share her total lack of a sense of justice are actually now facing justice.

Translation: "I do not have those same connections [which, as an aside, are absolutely not the same thing as bribery and wire fraud, FFS], so I object to someone else using them. Justice!"

[Anonymous]

I don’t know why any of you think this will be a problem for Loughlin or her daughter in the long run.
They aren’t going to jail for this.
They’ll spend a small fortune on lawyers and possibly fines. It certainly would have been cheaper to just do a big donation and walk through that front door, but...
Darling this is what PR people are for.
Lori will Star in the lifetime movie for this. She’ll get producer credit. Possibly screen writing too.
The story of a mother so blinded by love for her children she did the unthinkable. Writes itself. Her comeback tour on the talk show circuits will be fabulous. She’s so much more interesting now. Can’t wait to hear her side of it!
And Olivia Jade...
Whatever. Her 2 million subscribers don’t GAF. They weren’t following her vlog, for its deep insights. She’s shallow, but so are they.
They bribed her way into UCSB so she couldn’t get home easily, and keep up her social life.
LA is so incredibly superficial, they don’t even see the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aunt Becky and her husband never went to college and seemed naïve about the whole process and desperate.

The interesting thing about Felicity Huffman is she's a different case--she's a WASP, the daughter of a partner at Morgan Stanley, and a Yale legacy.

"Huffman was born in Bedford, New York, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Grace Valle (née Ewing; 1921–2009)[1] and Moore Peters Huffman (1910–1987), a banker and partner at Morgan Stanley.[2][3] Her parents divorced a year after her birth, and she was raised by both of her parents.[4][5] When she was a young teenager, she discovered that her biological father was Roger Tallman Maher, who was a family friend.[4] She has six sisters, Mariah, Betsy, Grace, Isabel, Jessie, Jane (1949–2013),[6] and a brother, Moore Jr. [7][8] Her great-grandfather was Gershom Moore Peters (1843–1919), founder of the Peters Cartridge Company and prominent Baptist minister, author of The Master.[9] Another great-grandfather, Frederick Berthold Ewing, graduated from Yale University and became a prominent St. Louis businessman. Her great-great-grandfather was Joseph Warren King (1814–1885), founder of the King Mills Powder Company"

Where does William H Macy fit into all of this? They’re still married, right?

They're still married. They haven't charged him--yet. The guy claims he met with him as well as huffman but my guess is so far the trail of money, emails, etc. goes back only to her and her accounts--would make sense they keep all their stuff separate for legal and other reasons since they are both high-earning and high-profile.

Or, so far they only have actual evidence (the transcripted phone conversations) of his involvement with the second daughter, who ultimately was not a student benefitting from the scheme. The parents changed their mind on her at the 11th hour.

They have Felicity Huffman on recorded phone conversations where the fraud is admitted. They don't have Macy on a recorded call.

The complaint explains how they nailed all the parents. Once Singer was caught and was cooperating, the FBI had him call each person to say he was giving them a heads up that his foundation was being audited, and if there were questions about the parents' contributions, he was not going to say that it was for [getting the proctor to take/correct their daughter's ACT/SAT; or bribing the coach and faking athletic accomplishments; or whatever that specific fraud was] to get the parent on tape agreeing and not disputing that fraud was the reason for the contribution to the foundation. He also would tell them that, by the way, the coach was impressed with the fake athlete profile you created and said they may use that format themselves, also so that the parent would be on tape acknowledging or at least not disputing the fraud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lori Laughlin and spouse were particularly stupid considering their daughter already had a likely million dollar a year business as a social influencer. They would have been better off making her see a financial adviser and getting her investing like crazy so when she loses her looks or people stop caring about her, her money is earning money and she can live off investments.

Agree.

In this case, however, she leveraged a new contract related to being a college student influence, hawking dorm gear and so forth. Had she not been in college she would have had to limit herself to makeup, clubs and god knows what else.

Also, Mom said she never had a chance to go to college, and wanted her daughters to have that experience. Perhaps they can experience prison together.

I'm at a total loss as to why her family valued USC or UCLA so much over places like SMU, ASU, Arizona or SEC and lower ranked Big 10 universities she likely could have gotten into as a full-pay dumb rich kid from California? I understand USC and UCLA are more competitive than ever but for a ditz, why were they so obsessed? Doesn't make sense at all. Are there people who think USC is really, really prestigious?

Because part of her brand is showing up at LA parties with the likes of the younger Kardashians, pop stars. You can't do that from a Big 10 school and maintain your influencer gig. Going to college was part of her brand. She was going to get an education and start a career. She's had a lucrative profession for several years.

NYU or Columbia could probably have worked too, but the weather is bad and the party scene is different.

This was like the new season of her ongoing reality show, being shot in a new location. Not like college for us or for our kids.