US college admissions cheating scandal

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#2318400 16-Sep-2019 10:23

Batman:
Varkk:

eracode:

I does make you wonder whether this has been going on for years or maybe decades. There could be hundreds or thousands of past cases like this where they have got away with it undetected.

It has been going on ever since institutions had requirements for entry. Of course they are in trouble for not paying enough and not to the right person. If they had straight up offered to build a new library or football stadium named after the kids grandfather then it would have all been legitimate.

And will have guaranteed admission for generations to come

Trouble is, that requires serious money.
A measly half million, let alone the few tens of thousands spent in this case, just won't cut it.

The Jeremiah P. Swampdweller III Memorial Gymnasium / Library / Refectory will cost at least eight digits - but will of course be tax-deductible for the donor.
So even the rewards of American crime are inequitably distributed.

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#2318404 16-Sep-2019 10:37

PolicyGuy:

Batman:
Varkk:

eracode:

I does make you wonder whether this has been going on for years or maybe decades. There could be hundreds or thousands of past cases like this where they have got away with it undetected.

It has been going on ever since institutions had requirements for entry. Of course they are in trouble for not paying enough and not to the right person. If they had straight up offered to build a new library or football stadium named after the kids grandfather then it would have all been legitimate.

And will have guaranteed admission for generations to come

Trouble is, that requires serious money.
A measly half million, let alone the few tens of thousands spent in this case, just won't cut it.

The Jeremiah P. Swampdweller III Memorial Gymnasium / Library / Refectory will cost at least eight digits - but will of course be tax-deductible for the donor.
So even the rewards of American crime are inequitably distributed.

a few million is small change for the very rich, who by the way, gets richer by the minute regardless of what happens in the world economy. (not the pretenders whose wealth changes with the stock market wind)

Rikkitic

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#2318419 16-Sep-2019 11:20

Whee! Money makes money. Whoever thought that one up knew what they were doing.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

eracode

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#2318466 16-Sep-2019 13:00

epr:
eracode:
Reminiscent of Mike Ross in 'Suits' but IIRC he got someone to sit exams or write essays for him to get a Harvard degree.

You do not recall correctly, he sat people's exams for them, so he was on the other side of the equation.

+1. You’re absolutely correct now that I think about it. I stand corrected once again.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

tripper1000

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#2318493 16-Sep-2019 13:44

Colleges who accept cash in return for admission are balancing the cost with the benefits. The benefit is obviously the cash, but the cost is the dragging down of their exam averages/results. Entrance does not grantee results after all (does it?).

You have to remember that the flip side of dumb but rich students paying inflated fees, is brainy but poor students, who are offered scholarships. The school may use the additional entrance fee to fund scholarships for brainy but cash-strapped students to pull the schools average back up again. In this case, it's win-win. A form of socialism if you will.

dt

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#2318529 16-Sep-2019 14:17

I was reading a comparison article over the weekend that compared this case of rich and famous to a homeless black women who put down a false address to get her son into a better school district and got a 5 year sentence for it.

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Rikkitic

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#2318532 16-Sep-2019 14:19

tripper1000:

Colleges who accept cash in return for admission are balancing the cost with the benefits. The benefit is obviously the cash, but the cost is the dragging down of their exam averages/results. Entrance does not grantee results after all (does it?).

You have to remember that the flip side of dumb but rich students paying inflated fees, is brainy but poor students, who are offered scholarships. The school may use the additional entrance fee to fund scholarships for brainy but cash-strapped students to pull the schools average back up again. In this case, it's win-win. A form of socialism if you will.

Excellent point but awfully cynical. I don't know whether to give it +1 or -10.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

elpenguino

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#2318824 16-Sep-2019 21:50

This might seem like a 'oops, look at me with my hand in the cookie jar!' kind of crime but it really cuts to the heart of western society and how it's set up at the moment.

One of the promises of capitalism is that anybody, no matter who you are, or where you come from, can 'make it'. All you have to do is have some talent, work hard, REAL hard, and it will all pay off for you. The idea is that this way, our best, brightest and workingest will succeed, rise to the top and make society better - cos those people are inherently better (what with that talent and all).

Those ideals are not good enough for a parent. Every parent wants little johnny to have the best of everything. Every parent wants little jane to have a good education. What parent would throw their child on the scrapheap when they see they are only average? (as of of course so many of us are)

If we really want to have a society based on merit then we have to get rid of things like private schools. And especially get rid of inherited wealth. If little johnny is so amazing, let him get rich without mummy and daddy to bankroll him.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

elpenguino

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#2318827 16-Sep-2019 21:54

tripper1000:

Colleges who accept cash in return for admission are balancing the cost with the benefits. The benefit is obviously the cash, but the cost is the dragging down of their exam averages/results. Entrance does not grantee results after all (does it?).

You have to remember that the flip side of dumb but rich students paying inflated fees, is brainy but poor students, who are offered scholarships. The school may use the additional entrance fee to fund scholarships for brainy but cash-strapped students to pull the schools average back up again. In this case, it's win-win. A form of socialism if you will.

Thats a nice idea but statistics show that places like oxbridge do not fill their scholarships with applicants from deprived backgrounds.

I read yesterday that student debt in the usa is now worth 1 trillion dollars. The idea of loans is that any one could borrow to study but undoubtedly the idea of a large debt puts some people off tertiary study and that is an opportunity denied.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

kingdragonfly

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#2318877 17-Sep-2019 07:13

Where this criminal enterprise really stinks is two-fold:

The bribes were tax-deductible. The head crook set up a non-profit organization, so that $500,000 bribe was paid for by the US taxpayers.

As Trump will know, if you have an excessive US tax deduction, you can spread it over 10 years.

Second top colleges only have so many enrollments open. So filling it with a rich party girl rather than an ace student means society suffers.

By the way, the colleges did not get the bribes. For lower bribes, test staff got 'em. For higher bribes, sport coaches got 'em.

At least the traditional aristocrats "buying a research wing" for a college so their privileged spawn can bypass others, at least others benefit.

By wasting the court's time by turning down a deal ,pleading not guilty and relying on high priced lawyers to get her out of her own mess, I'm hoping Aunt Becky gets 10 years to dissuade others.

kingdragonfly

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#2326237 28-Sep-2019 07:01

The 3rd parent sentenced in the college admissions scam gets 4 months in prison

By Eric Levenson, CNN

A Los Angeles-based executive who paid $400,000 to get his child into Georgetown University under the guise that he was a tennis recruit was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison, the federal prosecutor in Massachusetts announced.

Stephen Semprevivo had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud and was the third parent to be sentenced in the sprawling case that has ensnared more than 50 parents, college coaches and test administrators.

The four-month sentence is identical to that given on Tuesday to Devin Sloane, another LA-based executive who paid $250,000 to get his son into the University of Southern California falsely as a water polo player.

The actress Felicity Huffman, who paid $15,000 to cheat on her child's SAT test, was sentenced this month to two weeks in prison.

So far, federal judge Indira Talwani has doled out sentences well below prosecutor's recommendations in the college admissions scam. Prosecutors had asked for 13 months in prison for Semprevivo, one year and one day for Sloane, and one month for Huffman.

At the same time, Talwani has ordered each of the wealthy parents to pay fines higher than what prosecutor's recommended. Talwani sentenced Semprevivo to pay a $100,000 fine, Sloane to pay a $95,000 fine and Huffman to pay a $30,000 fine.
...

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/26/us/college-admissions-semprevivo-sentence/index.html

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kingdragonfly

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#2326241 28-Sep-2019 07:44

If you've never read a court transscipt, I'd say this one should be your first.

https://www.justice.gov/file/1142876/download

Choice quote #1
-------------------------------
BUCKINGHAM: And is-- will you send me where and how I should send the check?

CW-1: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We’ll send it so that you get your [IRS tax] writeoff.

BUCKINGHAM: Oh, even better!

CW-1: Yeah, it will be, it will be through the, our foundation, our 501(c)(3), and then we’ll send the checks to all the parties.

BUCKINGHAM: Okay.

CW-1: And that way you, there’s no, people aren’t saying, “Well, why [did] you send a check to [the Houston Test Center]?” and da da da.

On or about July 13, 2018, CW-2 asked CW-1 for a handwriting sample from BUCKINGHAM’s son so that CW-2 could attempt to match his handwriting on the exam.The following is an excerpt from the conversation.

CW-1: Hey could you get me a handwriting sample?

BUCKINGHAM: Yep.

CW-1: And a signature sample, so that he can kind of get close. Had he not taken the test before we wouldn’t have to do this, but I just want to make sure we’re close in our writing.

BUCKINGHAM:Yes. He has not great writing. I’m gonna give you that, but I’m going to, actually I’m bringing [him] to the doctor right now, so we will sit down in the waiting room and I will send it to you.

Shortly thereafter, BUCKINGHAM sent CW-1 an e-mail with the notation, “Good luck with this.” Attached to the e-mail was a photograph of the following:

kingdragonfly

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#2326244 28-Sep-2019 08:00

Another great excerpt

On or about December 3, 2018, CW-1 called STEPHEN SEMPREVIVO at the direction of law enforcement agents and told him that he wanted to provide an update on the IRS audit. The following is an excerpt from the conversation, which was consensually recorded.

CW-1: Well, thanks for letting me call you. I-- I talked to [your spouse], but I just want to give you an update. So they’ve been doing an audit on my foundation.

SEMPREVIVO: Okay.

CW-1: And they’ve finally now kind of picked—pegged out some stuff. So they keep-- you know, they’re going-- I think they may call all the folks that we, helped get into Georgetown.

SEMPREVIVO Um-hmm.

CW-1 And so I just wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page that-- because I’m sure that my-- I don’t know if [the IRS are] going to call you, but it sounds like they’re going to call all these folks, because we have probably 15, 20 folks over the coup-- last couple of years that have gotten in, and so I essentially-- you know, I’ve told them my-- I’ll tell you what I have not told them.

I did not tell them that [your son] was-- that he got in through tennis and that he wasn’t a tennis player, but that you guys made a payment to Gordie Ernst in Georgetown tennis.

I didn’t say that.

I just essentially said that [your son] got in through one of my relationships at Georgetown and just left it at that, and that you guys made a donation to our foundation to help underserved kids.

And I just used one of my relationships. And it wasn’t anything to do with that he was or wasn’t a tennis player, which he wasn’t. So I just wanted you to know that in case they call you.

SEMPREVIVO Okay. Yeah. Yeah. You know, however you-- that-- that-- that, you know, we donate to the--we donated to the, you know, foundation. It does great work and, you know-- and, you know, we appreciate, you know, any help outside of that that-- that we got from you. So, you know--

CW-1 Perfect. That-- that’s all I wanted you to know, so in case they call, because these people that audit-- I’m sure you’ve been audited [by the IRS] before. They-- they’re-- they’re-- they have no mercy.

SEMPREVIVO Um-hmm.

CW-1 So I just wanted you to be aware, in case you got a call.

SEMPREVIVO Yeah. Yeah. They-- and-- and-- and, my experience has been they like to do stuff in a-- and-- and, you know, send you documents and have you kind of do something in writing and-- and we’ll see what happens in terms of them--

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#2326245 28-Sep-2019 08:04

How did they obtain the transcript of what was said in secret?

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#2326250 28-Sep-2019 08:10

More of the same. The crook McGlashan proposes that they submit kid as an athlete, an American football punter, a kicker.

A "snapper" throws the ball to the kicker / the punter.

Both think it's funny because the kid's high school doesn't have a football team.

-------------------------

McGLASHAN returned CW-1’s phone call. The following is an excerpt from the conversation.

CW-1 You got an NFL punter?

McGLASHAN I did. That’s just totally hilarious. So he-- so this is for, so, the one part you were garbled at the beginning is, the school doesn’t have a football team, meaning, obviously [USC] does. What does that mean?

CW-1 Your high school.

McGLASHAN Oh, the high school. Yes, of course. Got it.

CW-1 So they asked me, “What sport could we put him through?” And I said, “Well, I don’t want, you know,” ’cause your school doesn’t have football it’s easy, because I can say, because they have all these kicking camps and these kickers always get picked up outside of the school--

McGLASHAN Yeah perfect. Perfect.

CW-1 So I’m gonna make him a kicker.

McGLASHAN (laughs) He does have really strong legs.

CW-1 (laughs) Well, this will be for-- this will be good for one of the--

McGLASHAN Maybe he’ll-- maybe he’ll become a kicker. You never know.

CW-1 Yeah! Absolutely.

McGLASHAN You could inspire him, [CW-1]. You may actually turn him into something. I love it.

CW-1 I know. Well I had a boy last year, I made him a long snapper. And--

McGLASHAN I love it.

CW-1 --he was 145 pounds. Long snapper. So--

McGLASHAN I love it. I love it. That is so funny. So, so, and then, just remind me again, we get all these done and the, the obvious deal you and I talked about, the $50K and the $200K. And-- and then, do we know he’s in? You and I at least know he’s in?

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