College Admissions Cheating Racket

[BmorePat87]

(03-14-2019, 02:13 PM)michaelsean Wrote: Drop AP?  Then how will kids have a 6.3 GPA based on the school's say so?

(03-14-2019, 02:26 PM)Dill Wrote: Just curious.  Why would dropping AP be a good move?  Don't such courses provide students with more in-depth skills and knowledge--good for those who want to go to college?

Localities should create their own high end courses rather than using a model that just focuses on cramming for a test that exists to enrich the College Board. Teaching to a test hinder students and teachers.

You could work with local/state colleges to match it to their courses. 

[Dill]

(03-14-2019, 02:47 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Localities should create their own high end courses rather than using a model that just focuses on cramming for a test that exists to enrich the College Board. Teaching to a test hinder students and teachers.

You could work with local/state colleges to match it to their courses. 

I didn't realize AP courses did that. Don't some of them at least require that students read important books and write papers about them, using APA or MLA style documentation?  That would be quite a bit more than teaching to the test.

Are these courses then a kind of standardized "package" which is distributed schools, ready to plug in?  How would localities create their own high end courses--working with ed departments of nearby universities? That sounds like a good idea, more promising than NCLB or the Keystone program in PA.

Totally agree with you about teaching to tests. The result is a lot of incoming freshmen who cannot write well and don't know basic geography, among other things.  My wife thinks her students have changed very much over the last 10 years. Incoming freshmen now are a lot like pigeons trained to peck at this or that to get food/a grade.  But they don't think about why they are doing what they are doing and can't solve problems.

Until Trump became president, public school teaching was the only profession in which people with no experience at all could come in and mandate how people with professional experience should do it--then blame them when it doesn't work.

[*michaelsean*]

(03-14-2019, 02:47 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Localities should create their own high end courses rather than using a model that just focuses on cramming for a test that exists to enrich the College Board. Teaching to a test hinder students and teachers.

You could work with local/state colleges to match it to their courses. 

I just want it to match reality as it seems schools get to dictate the value of the AP courses.  I'm sure i've simplified it a bit, but when I hear about kids with a 5.5 or 6.0 GPA (Even heard a 7 something once) I just have to laugh.  

[Dill]

(03-14-2019, 02:44 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Another lesson: sometimes (maybe often) someone just needs some different input to think of themselves in a different way and become something better. In my experience, the difference between people's intellectual abilities isn't all that large. It certainly isn't as large as some people make it out to be (primarily due to our competitive society and peoples' insecurity). We live in a world where people are real quick to just "write people off" for any reason. Not enough raising people up, IMO.

A good story, B-zona.  Somewhat similar to mine, in that I didn't do that well in HS. Plus I graduated from a rural HS, with pretty low standards. But you ended up an officer, didn't you? Has to be some striving for that.

I do think there can be a large difference in people's intellectual abilities, though. I once had a professor who worked in 9 different languages. He seemed to know other disciplines (like philosophy and English) better than professors in those disciplines.   LOL so I see some big differences between my intellectual abilities and that guy's. I can think of a non-academic example too--a Command Sergeant Major I knew who did not have a college degree. But the guy was super competent as an administrator and a soldier.  Nine deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Extremely high personal standards. I could listen to him talk all day about the nuts and bolts of base operations. He was a mine of data too, knew how to "access" everything he had learned in 20+ years of military responsibilities.  The way soldiers talked about him behind his back was telling as well--nothing but respect. Training brings out those differences, where they exist, as experience adds to them. Which is why opportunity is important.

That CSM came to mind because you mentioned "raising people up."  He was all about that.  I would even go so far as to say "nurturing," an odd term to apply to someone in that position, giving orders all day and meeting out discipline where needed.  I think there is too little "raising up" now in part because of how bureaucratized and risk-managed almost all our institutions have become. People's abilities are quantified and they are slotted in--or out--of positions and tracks to positions accordingly. Granting that measurement is a necessity, it doesn't have to take the form of cost-benefit calculations based solely on profit.  

[*michaelsean*]

(03-14-2019, 02:44 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: Old war story time....

When I was in high school, my grades were pretty mediocre. My parents were fine if I brought home a C (in fact, they didn't care much if I brought home a D) and I never thought of myself as particularly intelligent. So, there was little internal or external pressure to achieve. And my grades reflected that. I do recall a couple of teachers over the years telling us that if we really wanted to go to college, we could. There were schools that would accept you even with mediocre grades and ways you could find to pay the tuition. I noted that and thought that I would like to do that someday, But I didn't really have plans or expectations.

Because of my interest groups, particularly music, I ended up hanging out with a lot of the 'smart' kids in school. I was dating this one girl and I remember the day when they posted the final grade point averages for seniors to decided who would be valedictorian, etc. She was really excited about this because she was like in the top ten. Then she suggested that we look up where I ended up. Reading far, far down the list, we eventually found me somewhere in the 'two-point-whatever' territory. She looked at me and said, "Gee, Mike. I thought you were smarter than that." (Pam wasn't much in the 'sensitivity' department). What she said struck me. For the first time, I began to wonder if maybe I could be smarter and if I could have gotten better grades.

But my die was cast by senior year. There a recession and you couldn't even buy a job, especially as a kid out of high school with no connections. So I enlisted with the thought of getting some money and some life experience. "Who knows", I thought, "maybe I'll like it and stay in."

In basic training, they pulled me and some of the other guys out one day and told us we had tested high on the ASVAB and, if we wanted to, we could apply to this West Point Prep School (basically a one year school the Army runs for people who could possibly go to West Point, but didn't have high enough grades, test scores, etc.). As an exhausted recruit in basic, the thought of doing something like that seemed very appealing. So I put my name in the hat. When I got to AIT, they got back to me and wanted me to take the ACT and SAT. I had taken the ACT in high school and got mediocre scores. So I went out and got some of those test prep books and began studying like a madman during CQ watch and what little free time I had. I got my results back and they were really great (something like a 28 and a 1520, respectively).  Once again, I was shocked. I began to think, "Maybe I'm not so dumb and maybe if I actually work, then I could get good grades."

I didn't get into the West Point Prep. I made the second cut (they cut 90% in the first cut), but ultimately failed on the last cut. But at that point, it didn't matter to me. I was determined that once I finished my three-year hitch, I was going to go to college and see what I could do.

There's probably a few lessons here that others could take away. In my case, the college tests were a good thing because I sort of did them in a way you are supposed to: study hard for them and review your results to see where you stand compared to where you want to be.

Another lesson: sometimes (maybe often) someone just needs some different input to think of themselves in a different way and become something better. In my experience, the difference between people's intellectual abilities isn't all that large. It certainly isn't as large as some people make it out to be (primarily due to our competitive society and peoples' insecurity). We live in a world where people are real quick to just "write people off" for any reason. Not enough raising people up, IMO.

If we could just fine the nice middle between your experience and all the people who think their children are gifted.  Graduating from Princeton at 16 or even 18 is gifted.  You're kid managed to put a square block through a square hole before the kid sitting next to him.  

[Bengalzona]

(03-14-2019, 03:27 PM)Dill Wrote: A good story, B-zona.  Somewhat similar to mine, in that I didn't do that well in HS. Plus I graduated from a rural HS, with pretty low standards.  But you ended up an officer, didn't you?  Has to be some striving for that.

I do think there can be a large difference in people's intellectual abilities, though. I once had a professor who worked in 9 different languages. He seemed to know other disciplines (like philosophy and English) better than professors in those disciplines.   LOL so I see some big differences between my intellectual abilities and that guy's. I can think of a non-academic example too--a Command Sergeant Major I knew who did not have a college degree. But the guy was super competent as an administrator and a soldier.  Nine deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Extremely high personal standards. I could listen to him talk all day about the nuts and bolts of base operations. He was a mine of data too, knew how to "access" everything he had learned in 20+ years of military responsibilities.  The way soldiers talked about him behind his back was telling as well--nothing but respect. Training brings out those differences, where they exist, as experience adds to them. Which is why opportunity is important.

That CSM came to mind because you mentioned "raising people up."  He was all about that.  I would even go so far as to say "nurturing," an odd term to apply to someone in that position, giving orders all day and meeting out discipline where needed.  I think there is too little "raising up" now in part because of how bureaucratized and risk-managed almost all our institutions have become. People's abilities are quantified and they are slotted in--or out--of positions and tracks to positions accordingly. Granting that measurement is a necessity, it doesn't have to take the form of cost-benefit calculations based solely on profit.  

I still do not believe there is that much difference in overall intelligence between individuals, developmentally disabled individuals aside. I think people have varying degrees of aptitudes in specific areas, such as your professor friend. Their minds open up to certain ideas like a highway when they are exposed to them, while others may only see an obstacle course to be surmounted. But those aptitudes are not the sum total of their anyone's intellect, just a portion. It just seems that way because a society rewards certain aptitudes and devalues others. Add to that the tendency of societies to want to quantify and rank certain aptitudes (ex. "So You Think You Can Dance") in order to concentrate on the superlatives and capitalize benefits.

Our education system is, as you noted, geared to sorting and tracking certain aptitudes based upon what the society values. The rest are just swept under the carpet and ignored unless some 'enterprising' person comes up with a way to 'profit' from them. Our education system reflects our society, and it is grossly inefficient and unfair.

[GMDino]

https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-fraud-corruption-list-20190312-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2SXYSPivBdqE-SvazRn2_-xSAGaTtXjdvpPTMgQ97uPaOkLNQvQvKD4fg

Quote:They include Hollywood actresses, former CEOs, a famed parenting book writer, a fashion icon, a Newport Beach college counselor and university athletic officials.


In a college admissions scandal brought to light Tuesday, federal prosecutors allege wealthy parents paid to help their children cheat on college entrance exams and to falsify athletic records of students to enable them to secure admission to elite schools, including UCLA, USC, Stanford, Yale and Georgetown.

Here is a full list of those charged:

William ‘Rick’ Singer
Racketeering conspiracy; money laundering conspiracy; conspiracy to defraud the U.S.; obstruction of justice

Singer, who owns a for-profit Newport Beach college admissions company, is at the center of the scheme, according to court documents. Wealthy parents paid to have him and others facilitate their children’s cheating on college entrance exams and admission to elite universities as athletes, regardless of whether they played the sport, prosecutors allege.

Singer, of Sacramento and Newport Beach, owned Edge College & Career Network and was also CEO of the Key Worldwide Foundation, which he formed in 2012 to provide education to underprivileged students. Prosecutors allege that Singer instructed parents to make payments to the fake charity under the guise of charitable donations.


Singer cooperated with authorities in the investigation and pleaded guilty to the charges in Boston on Tuesday afternoon.

Rudolph ‘Rudy’ Meredith
Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud; honest services wire fraud.
Meredith of Madison, Conn., was employed as the head women's soccer coach at Yale University until November 2018. He is accused of accepting bribes in exchange for designating applicants as athletic recruits for the college's soccer team, and gaining them admission to the university.

“Yale has been the victim of a crime perpetrated by a former coach who no longer works at the university,” Peter Salovey, president of Yale, said in a statement emailed to the campus community.


Salovey added that he does not believe that any other member of the school’s administration or staff knew about the conspiracy.


Mark Riddell
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud; conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Riddell served as the director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy in Bradenton Fla., where he has worked since 2006. He was allegedly involved with the scheme since 2011, according to court filings.


Prosecutors allege administrators allowed Riddell to take students’ exams for them, feed correct answers to students or review and correct tests after they had been completed. He was allegedly paid $10,000 per test he doctored, according to court documents.


Riddell “assists thousands of students in gaining admission to top American universities,” according to his biography on IMG Academy’s website.


At a news conference Tuesday, U.S. Atty. for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling described Riddell as “just a really smart guy,” according to ABC News.


“He didn't have inside information about the answers, he was just smart enough to get a near perfect score on demand or to calibrate the score,” Lelling said.

John Vandemoer
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.

Vandemoer was a sailing coach at Stanford University. He is accused of recommending two prospective students — children of Singer’s clients — as recruits for the college’s sailing team in exchange for payment to Stanford sailing, according to court documents.


Prosecutors allege Vandemoer accepted a total of $270,000 in contributions to the Stanford sailing program.
Ultimately, the students Vandemoer referred did not attend Stanford. Vandemoer has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of racketeering conspiracy, and was fired Tuesday.


Stanford released a statement saying the school has been cooperating with the investigation, that it has no evidence the alleged conduct involves anyone else at Stanford, and that it will be undertaking an internal review.
Vandemoer was in his 11th year as Stanford's head sailing coach for the 2018-19 season.


Igor Dvorskiy and Lisa ‘Niki’ Williams
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Igor Dvorskiy was director of the West Hollywood College Preparatory School and Lisa “Niki” Williams was an assistant teacher at a Houston high school. Both Dvorskiy and Williams were also test administrators for the College Board and ACT who are accused of facilitating cheating.


The way the scheme usually worked, according to court documents, is that parents would ask for extended time for their children on college entrance exams, including the ACT and SAT. They were allegedly encouraged to fabricate reasons for their children to take the exam either at a public high school in Houston or at the private 
West Hollywood prep school where Dvorskiy worked.


Prosecutors allege that at those two test centers, administrators Williams in Houston and Dvorskiy in West Hollywood were bribed to allow Riddell to take exams for students, feed correct answers to students or doctor tests after the fact.


Gordon Ernst
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Gordon Ernst was the head tennis coach at Georgetown University until 2018. Prosecutors allege he accepted bribes to designate applicants as tennis recruits in order for them to gain admission to Georgetown.


The Georgetown Voice reports that university vice presidents sent an email to the student body saying Ernst had been placed on leave following an internal investigation, and eventually left Georgetown in 2018. But a press release from July 2018 about Ernst’s resignation did not mention any violation of university rules, and was removed from the school’s website early Tuesday afternoon, according to the Georgetown Voice.


After leaving Georgetown, Ernst took a position as a coach for the University of Rhode Island’s women’s tennis team. Ernst was inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame in 2015.


William Ferguson
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Ferguson, of Winston-Salem, N.C., has been head women’s volleyball coach at Wake Forest University since 2016. On Tuesday, the university placed Ferguson on administrative leaveand hired legal counsel to review the matter.


Martin Fox
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Martin Fox is president of a private tennis academy and camp in Houston. He is accused of brokering bribes in exchange for payment.


Fox allegedly received a check from the Key Worldwide Foundation for introducing Singer to Michael Center, the head coach of the men’s tennis team at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the complaint. Prosecutors allege he was also paid to facilitate bribes for a varsity coach at the University of San Diego.


Fox was separately indicted by a grand jury in Massachusetts on a charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering, according to the complaint.


Donna Heinel
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Heinel was a senior associate athletic director at USC. She allegedly received bribes totaling more than $1.3 million in exchange for falsely designating applicants as athletic recruits to gain them admission to USC. She was fired by the university on Tuesday.


Laura Janke and Ali Khosroshahin
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Ali Khosroshahin was USC women’s soccer coach before he was fired in 2013. Laura Janke was his assistant coach of women’s soccer before she left USC in 2014.


Both were named in the indictment for allegedly fabricating athlete profiles for applicants. They allegedly received payments totaling nearly $350,000 sent to their private soccer club.
Singer allegedly directed Janke to draft a false profile for one client’s daughter and a basketball profile for another.


“Let me know if you want me to add any other awards to her profile or if you think that is enough,” Janke wrote in an email to Singer when she sent a draft of a profile, according to the complaint.


Steven Masera
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Steven Masera, of Folsom, Calif., was an accountant and financial officer for the Edge College & Career Network as well as the Key Worldwide Foundation until December 2017. Effectively Singer’s bookkeeper, he is is accused of collecting money from parents under the guise of charitable donations as part of the scheme.


Jorge Salcedo
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Jorge Salcedo was the head coach of UCLA men’s soccer. He allegedly accepted $200,000 for facilitating the enrollment of two students, falsely designating them as soccer players, though they did not play competitively. He was placed on leave by the school Tuesday morning.


Mikaela Sanford
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Mikaela Sanford was an employee of Singer’s who served in various roles at Edge College & Career Network and the Key Worldwide Foundation. Sanford allegedly helped fabricate athletic profiles and secretly took classes for some students so that the grades she earned could be submitted to colleges as part of their applications, according to the complaint.


David Sidoo
Conspracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
David Sidoo is a Vancouver businessman and former Canadian Football League player. He is accused of making two $100,000 payments to have others pose as his two sons to take exams, including the SAT and Canadian high school graduation exam.


His older son, Dylan Sidoo, was admitted to Chapman University in 2012, after his SAT score was emailed to a Chapman administrator, according to the indictment.


Dylan Sidoo attended Chapman University until 2014, when he transferred out to attend USC. The younger son, Jordan Sidoo, was admitted to UC Berkeley in 2014, where he joined the rowing program. Neither of the sons were named in the indictment.


Jovan Vavic
Conspiracy to commit racketeering.
Vavic was the men’s and women’s water polo coach at USC. He allegedly accepted bribes totaling more than $250,000 in exchange for falsely designating students as recruited athletes to help them gain admission. He was fired Tuesday.


Gregory Abbott and Marcia Abbott
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Gregory Abbott is the founder and chairman of a food and beverage packaging company, according to court records. He and his wife, Marcia Abbott, are residents of New York City and Aspen, Colo.
The Abbotts are accused of paying $50,000 under the guise of a charitable donation for their daughter to participate in the cheating scheme.


Gamal Abdelaziz
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, was a senior executive of a resort and casino operator in Macau until 2016. He’s accused of conspiring to bribe Donna Heinel, who until Tuesday was a senior associate athletic director at USC, to designate his daughter as a recruit for the basketball team to ease her admission to the school.
To get his daughter into the school, he allegedly wired $300,000 in March 2018 as a purported charitable contribution, and also began making payments of $20,000 per month to Heinel personally, according to the complaint.


Diane Blake and Todd Blake
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Blakes are a married couple from Ross, Calif. Diane Blake is the co-founder of Winston Retail Solutions, a retail merchandising firm. She previously founded the marketing firm Blake Marketing Inc., and worked as director of retail marketing and merchandising for Levi Strauss & Co., according to her LinkedIn page. Todd Blake is an entrepreneur and investor, according to the complaint.


Jane Buckingham
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Buckingham, of Los Angeles, is the chief executive of a marketing company. Bloomberg describes her as a “lifestyle guru and marketing consultant frequently quoted in television and newspaper interviews as a self-proclaimed millennial expert.”


She is accused of agreeing to make a $50,000 payment to the Key Worldwide Foundation in exchange for someone taking the ACT for her son. According to the complaint, on a call with Singer, Buckingham said she would “probably like to do the same thing” for her daughter because she is “not a great test taker.”


Gordon Caplan
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Caplan, of Greenwich, Conn., and New York is an attorney and co-chairman of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. He is accused of making a $75,000 payment under the guise of a charitable donation for his daughter to participate in the cheating scheme.


He allegedly took his daughter to a psychologist in Los Angeles in order to get medical documentation she would need to receive extended time for an entrance exam. Singer told Caplan that his daughter needed “to be stupid” when a psychologist evaluated her for a learning disability.


The ACT twice denied his daughter's request for extended time before ultimately granting it at the request of law enforcement officials investigating the scheme, according to the complaint.


In a phone call, Singer suggested Caplan hire someone to take classes for his daughter to improve her grades.
Caplan's wife voiced concerns on the call, saying she had a “problem with that,” according to the complaint.
Caplan picked up the phone to speak privately to Singer, and asked, “If somebody catches this, what happens?”


“The only one who can catch it is if you guys tell somebody,” Singer said.


“I am not going to tell anybody,” Caplan said, both laughing, according to the complaint.


Michael Center
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Center was the head coach of the men’s tennis team at the University of Texas at Austin. He was accused of accepting bribes in exchange for designating students as athletic recruits and facilitating their admission to the university, according to the complaint. He was placed on leave from the university on Tuesday.


I-Hsin ‘Joey’ Chen
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Chen, of Newport Beach, runs a company that provides warehousing and other services for the shipping industry. Chen is accused of paying $75,000 in exchange for his son’s participation in the cheating scheme, according to court documents.

Amy Colburn and Gregory Colburn

Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Colburns are a married couple from Palo Alto. Gregory Colburn is a radiation oncologist in San Jose who has been practicing medicine for more than 20 years. He received his medical degree from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.


Robert Flaxman
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Flaxman, a Beverly Hills resident, is chief executive and co-founder of Crown Realty & Development, a real estate development company. According to his Facebook page, he attended USC.


Mossimo Giannulli and Lori Loughlin
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Giannuli is a fashion designer and creator of clothing brand Mossimo; Loughlin is an actress famous for her role on “Full House.” The couple allegedly agreed to pay $500,000 bribes to have their two daughters recruited to the USC rowing team (even though neither of them actually rows) in order to gain admission to the school, according to the complaint.


A cooperating witness told the couple their younger daughter's crew profile would show their daughter, falsely, as a coxswain for the L.A. Marina Club team, and asked for an “action picture,” according to the complaint. In response, Giannuli sent a picture of their younger daughter on an ergometer, an indoor rowing machine.


In 2017, a guidance counselor from the high school their daughters attended did not believe they rowed and raised concerns that their applications might have misleading information, according to the complaint.



Manuel Henriquez and Elizabeth Henriquez
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Manuel Henriquez is the founder, chairman and CEO of Hercules Capital, a publicly traded specialty finance company based in Palo Alto. Manuel Henriquez and his wife, Elizabeth Henriquez, live in Atherton, Calif.


The couple allegedly participated in the college entrance scheme multiple times for their two daughters.
Manuel Henriquez allegedly was supposed to be billed $75,000 at one point, but instead of paying for the cheating, he agreed to use his influence at Northeastern University, where he is an alum and former member of one of the university's governing bodies, to secure admission for an unnamed applicant, according to the complaint.


The Henriquezes are also accused of conspiring to bribe Gordon Ernst, the head tennis coach at Georgetown, to enlist their older daughter as a tennis recruit to ease her admission to the university.


Douglas Hodge
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Hodge is a Laguna Beach-based investor. Hodge previously led Pimco, a large investment management company based in Newport Beach.


Felicity Huffman
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Huffman, actress in the hit ABC show “Desperate Housewives,” is accused of participating in the cheating scheme for her oldest daughter. The daughter allegedly took the SAT in December 2017 and got a 1420, bumping up 400 points from her first test.


Huffman, who lives in Los Angeles, allegedly made initial arrangements to do the same for her younger daughter, but according to the complaint, in February, she spoke with a cooperating witness expressing concern about whether the jump in her daughter’s SAT test scores would raise suspicion with her SAT tutor.


She eventually decided not to participate in the scheme for her younger daughter, according to court documents.


Agustin Huneeus Jr.
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Huneeus, of San Francisco, owns Huneeus Vintners, a portfolio of vineyards in Napa and elsewhere.


He is accused of participating in the cheating scheme on behalf of his daughter and conspiring to bribe Heinel and Vavic at USC to get his daughter into the school as a water polo recruit, according to the complaint.


Bruce Isackson and Davina Isackson
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The Isacksons are a married couple from Hillsborough, Calif. Bruce Isackson is the president of WP Investments, a real estate development firm in Woodside, Calif. According to WP Investments’ website, Isackson studied at 
UCLA.


The Isacksons are accused of participating in both the recruitment scheme and cheating scheme. According to court documents, Bruce Isackson worried about what would happen if the scheme got out, saying it would be a “front-page story,” and be an “embarrassment to everyone in the communities.”


Michelle Janavs
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Janavs is a former executive at a large food manufacturer formerly owned by members of her family, according to the criminal indictment.


Elisabeth Kimmel
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Kimmel is the president and general counsel for media company Midwest Television, Inc. based in the San Diego area, according to her LinkedIn page. She is a resident of Las Vegas and La Jolla. She is accused of conspiring to use bribery to gain her daughter admission to Georgetown as a tennis recruit and her son admission to USC as a track recruit.


Marjorie Klapper
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Klapper, of Menlo Park, co-owns a jewelry business. According to the complaint, Klapper asked if her son could take the ACT in Los Angeles after learning about the scheme from another client. She is accused of making a $15,000 purported charitable contribution for her son to participate in the cheating scheme.


Toby MacFarlane
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Toby MacFarlane, of Del Mar, was a senior executive at a title insurance company. He is accused of agreeing to use bribery to gain his daughter admission to USC as a soccer recruit and his son as a basketball recruit.

The complaint outlines how in 2013 Singer allegedly passed along MacFarlane's daughter's records to Khosroshahin and Janke, who were USC women's soccer coaches at the time. They allegedly helped facilitate her admission to the school as a soccer recruit.

After MacFarlane’s daughter was admitted to USC, she continued to get inquiring emails about NCAA eligibility forms she had to complete and notices from her athletics academic counselor asking her to change her Friday classes since she would need to be free for games, according to the complaint.

That email about Friday classes was also sent to the newly appointed head coach of the team, who responded saying MacFarlane's daughter wasn't in her list of players, and to contact her “asap.”

According to the complaint, MacFarlane asked Singer for advice about this. Singer allegedly advised him to tell the coaches his daughter had a plantar fasciitis injury and wouldn't be practicing for a while.

MacFarlane’s daughter graduated in 2018. She never played soccer at USC, according to the complaint.


William McGlashan
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
McGlashan, of Mill Valley, Calif., is a senior executive at global private equity firm TPG Growth. McGlashan also sits on the board of trustees at Marin Academy, a private prep school in San Rafael, according to the Marin Independent Journal.


He is accused of participating in the cheating and college recruitment scheme, and is also accused of conspiring to bribe Heinel, until Tuesday a senior associate athletic director at USC, to ease his son’s admission to the school as a recruited athlete.


Marci Palatella
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Palatella is the founder of liquor distribution company Preservation Distillery. She and her husband, former San Francisco 49ers player Lou Palatella, have been involved in the liquor distribution business for decades.
Palatella is accused of conspiring to bribe USC’s Heinel to designate her son as a football recruit to facilitate his admission to the university.


Peter Jan Sartorio
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Sartorio is a packaged foods entrepreneur based in Menlo Park. According to the San Francisco Business Times, Sartorio co-founded Elena’s Food Specialties Inc., which produces and distributes frozen Mexican food products.


Stephen Semprevivo
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Semprevivo is the chief “strategy and growth officer” at Agoura Hills-based Cydcor, a company that provides outsourced sales services. According to his LinkedIn page, Semprevivo was previously the general manager for Machinima, a video entertainment network.


He is accused of agreeing to bribe Ernst, the Georgetown tennis coach, to facilitate admission for his son — who did not play tennis competitively —to Georgetown.


Devin Sloane
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Sloane is the founder and general manager of the Los Angeles-based water company waterTALENT, which provides staff for water and wastewater treatment facilities, and its parent company aquaTECTURE. According to the company website, he is the former chief executive of a major oil and gas industry equipment supplier and began his career installing sewer mains.


John Wilson
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Wilson, who lives in Lynnfield, Mass., is the founder and CEO of a private equity and real estate development firm, according to the criminal indictment.


Homayoun Zadeh
Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Zadeh is a tenured associate professor at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry and director of the university’s Advanced Education Program in Periodontology. He received his bachelor’s degree at UCLA before attending USC’s dentistry school.
Robert Zangrillo

Conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Zangrillo is the lead investor of a controversial Miami development project, the Magic City Innovation District — a plan that would redevelop a historically black, immigrant area of Little Haiti into luxury shops and apartments.

Seems the celebrity names got the press but they were the only two or three that had name recognition.  Lots of CEO's and business owners too.

[Bengalzona]

When I was enlisted, I met a SFC. He was a Vietnam vet. More than that, he was a black man from Mississippi who grew up in the segregated South during the 50's and 60's. When he enlisted, he took the ASVAB and got an exceedingly low ASVAB score. Obviously, this didn't hurt his advancement: he put in his time, kept himself straight and advanced through the ranks (kudos to the Army).

Of course, some punk admin dude looking through the guy's files decided to broadcast the old ASVAB scores to everyone in the unit and the rumor went rampant that the sergeant was "functionally ********". The guys would sit around laughing and making jokes behind this guy's back. Sometimes they would be belligerent and challenge the guy when he told them to do stuff. To his credit, he went about his daily duties regardless. If they were belligerent, he made them back down and do what they were supposed to do without holding a personal grudge.

The behavior pissed me off, though. I knew this guy and talked with him a few times. He was not stupid or ignorant. Some people really suck.

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(03-14-2019, 01:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I am sure you are trying to be sarcastic, but you are actually 100% correct.

Passing harsh judgement on Hollywood stars because a few Hollywood stars were involved with this is just as stupid as passing harsh judgement on white males because a few white males were involved.

When speaking in generalities one would hope that one's audience would comprehend the idea that one is obviously not speaking about the entirety of a group.  I would think that someone who has made sweeping statements about the entire black ethnicity in previous posts would understand that.  Apologies for the error on my part.

[*bfine32*]

I think this issue points to where the real privilege lies and has laid for quite some time and it has 0 to do with skin pigment.

This makes me glad to know that I work for an organization that awards scholarships based solely on merit

[Dill]

(03-14-2019, 04:26 PM)GMDino Wrote: Seems the celebrity names got the press but they were the only two or three that had name recognition.  Lots of CEO's and business owners too.

I'll see your list of guilty CEOs and raise you an article recording their donations to political parties.  Dems in there, but lots of support for Romney.

Major Political Donors Indicted In Sweeping College Admissions Investigation
Two presidential candidates, the DNC and RNC were among recipients. There’s no evidence any elected official helped the donors’ children gain acceptances.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/political-donors-college-admissions-scandal_n_5c883861e4b0fbd7661ed2fb

Here's an example:

Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development

Total federal contributions: $143,065.80
$5,400 to Rep. Ro Khanna’s congressional campaign committee in 2015
$50,000 to Romney Victory Fund in 2012
$2,300 to Romney presidential campaign in 2007
$2,700 to Chris Van Hollen’s Senate account (all contributions were disbursed through a joint committee on Sept. 30, 2016)
$33,400 to the Democratic National Committee
$8,350 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee
$10,000 to the California Republican Party Federal Account
$35,800 to the Republican National Committee  
$8,350 to the National Republican Congressional Committee

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(03-14-2019, 04:26 PM)GMDino Wrote: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-fraud-corruption-list-20190312-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2SXYSPivBdqE-SvazRn2_-xSAGaTtXjdvpPTMgQ97uPaOkLNQvQvKD4fg



[url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-scale-elite-schools-20190312-story.html]




Seems the celebrity names got the press but they were the only two or three that had name recognition.  Lots of CEO's and business owners too.

They are really going after these people.  I have a hard time seeing how these people avoid custodial time.

(03-14-2019, 04:29 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: When I was enlisted, I met a SFC. He was a Vietnam vet. More than that, he was a black man from Mississippi who grew up in the segregated South during the 50's and 60's. When he enlisted, he took the ASVAB and got an exceedingly low ASVAB score. Obviously, this didn't hurt his advancement: he put in his time, kept himself straight and advanced through the ranks (kudos to the Army).

Of course, some punk admin dude looking through the guy's files decided to broadcast the old ASVAB scores to everyone in the unit and the rumor went rampant that the sergeant was "functionally ********". The guys would sit around laughing and making jokes behind this guy's back. Sometimes they would be belligerent and challenge the guy when he told them to do stuff. To his credit, he went about his daily duties regardless. If they were belligerent, he made them back down and do what they were supposed to do without holding a personal grudge.

The behavior pissed me off, though. I knew this guy and talked with him a few times. He was not stupid or ignorant. Some people really suck.

Some people don't test well, it has nothing to do with their basic intelligence.  I've said this before, some of the dumbest people I've ever met had law degrees from USC and Stanford.  Being a good student/test taker does not automatically mean you are intelligent.

[Bengalzona]

(03-14-2019, 07:35 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Some people don't test well, it has nothing to do with their basic intelligence.  I've said this before, some of the dumbest people I've ever met had law degrees from USC and Stanford.  Being a good student/test taker does not automatically mean you are intelligent.

Exactly.

Additionally, this guy was coming from an insanely poor and racist area back during the days of segregation. How likely was he going to be to do well on any sort of written test? It was probably a wonder he could even read and write with that background, but had nothing to do with how intelligent he was.

[*michaelsean*]

(03-14-2019, 04:26 PM)GMDino Wrote: https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-fraud-corruption-list-20190312-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2SXYSPivBdqE-SvazRn2_-xSAGaTtXjdvpPTMgQ97uPaOkLNQvQvKD4fg



[url=https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-college-admissions-scale-elite-schools-20190312-story.html]




Seems the celebrity names got the press but they were the only two or three that had name recognition.  Lots of CEO's and business owners too.

Yeah nobody knows any of the other people.

[*michaelsean*]

(03-14-2019, 04:29 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: When I was enlisted, I met a SFC. He was a Vietnam vet. More than that, he was a black man from Mississippi who grew up in the segregated South during the 50's and 60's. When he enlisted, he took the ASVAB and got an exceedingly low ASVAB score. Obviously, this didn't hurt his advancement: he put in his time, kept himself straight and advanced through the ranks (kudos to the Army).

Of course, some punk admin dude looking through the guy's files decided to broadcast the old ASVAB scores to everyone in the unit and the rumor went rampant that the sergeant was "functionally ********". The guys would sit around laughing and making jokes behind this guy's back. Sometimes they would be belligerent and challenge the guy when he told them to do stuff. To his credit, he went about his daily duties regardless. If they were belligerent, he made them back down and do what they were supposed to do without holding a personal grudge.

The behavior pissed me off, though. I knew this guy and talked with him a few times. He was not stupid or ignorant. Some people really suck.

I didn’t think you could get away with that no matter what your personal opinion of whoever is above you.

[Dill]

(03-14-2019, 04:29 PM)Bengalzona Wrote: When I was enlisted, I met a SFC. He was a Vietnam vet. More than that, he was a black man from Mississippi who grew up in the segregated South during the 50's and 60's. When he enlisted, he took the ASVAB and got an exceedingly low ASVAB score. Obviously, this didn't hurt his advancement: he put in his time, kept himself straight and advanced through the ranks (kudos to the Army).

Of course, some punk admin dude looking through the guy's files decided to broadcast the old ASVAB scores to everyone in the unit and the rumor went rampant that the sergeant was "functionally ********". The guys would sit around laughing and making jokes behind this guy's back. Sometimes they would be belligerent and challenge the guy when he told them to do stuff. To his credit, he went about his daily duties regardless. If they were belligerent, he made them back down and do what they were supposed to do without holding a personal grudge.

The behavior pissed me off, though. I knew this guy and talked with him a few times. He was not stupid or ignorant. Some people really suck.

That would be illegal, wouldn't it? Nothing happened to the guy?

[*michaelsean*]

(03-14-2019, 06:40 PM)Dill Wrote: I'll see your list of guilty CEOs and raise you an article recording their donations to political parties.  Dems in there, but lots of support for Romney.

Major Political Donors Indicted In Sweeping College Admissions Investigation
Two presidential candidates, the DNC and RNC were among recipients. There’s no evidence any elected official helped the donors’ children gain acceptances.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/political-donors-college-admissions-scandal_n_5c883861e4b0fbd7661ed2fb

Here's an example:

Robert Flaxman, CEO of Crown Realty & Development

Total federal contributions: $143,065.80
$5,400 to Rep. Ro Khanna’s congressional campaign committee in 2015
$50,000 to Romney Victory Fund in 2012
$2,300 to Romney presidential campaign in 2007
$2,700 to Chris Van Hollen’s Senate account (all contributions were disbursed through a joint committee on Sept. 30, 2016)
$33,400 to the Democratic National Committee
$8,350 to the National Republican Senatorial Committee
$10,000 to the California Republican Party Federal Account
$35,800 to the Republican National Committee  
$8,350 to the National Republican Congressional Committee

And lots of support for the DNC and lots of people giving to both parties as the wealthy often do.

[Belsnickel]

(03-14-2019, 01:32 PM)Dill Wrote: LOL, but you did.

Penn State is not part of the Passhe system. It is not at state school. 

Rather it is sometimes designated "state-supported" or "state-related," like the U of Pittsburgh.

IUP is the LARGEST PA state school in terms of enrollment, and probably in campus size as well.

This caused me to look up that weird hybrid system going on. At least we just have to deal with different levels of autonomy due to several different types of management agreements state institutions have with the Commonwealth of Virginia. Much less complicated.

(03-14-2019, 02:26 PM)Dill Wrote: Just curious.  Why would dropping AP be a good move?  Don't such courses provide students with more in-depth skills and knowledge--good for those who want to go to college?

(03-14-2019, 02:47 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Localities should create their own high end courses rather than using a model that just focuses on cramming for a test that exists to enrich the College Board. Teaching to a test hinder students and teachers.

You could work with local/state colleges to match it to their courses. 

I was actually going to say something similar in response. There are programs called "dual enrollment" where students take a course that they receive college credit for through a local higher education institute. Some colleges and universities also allow secondary school students attend classes on campus, as well.

[Bengalzona]

(03-14-2019, 08:47 PM)michaelsean Wrote: I didn’t think you could get away with that no matter what your personal opinion of whoever is above you.

They eventually would do what they were supposed to do. As long as they did that, they could get away with a little lip if the NCO didn't make an issue of it. Most wouldn't.

(03-14-2019, 09:09 PM)Dill Wrote: That would be illegal, wouldn't it? Nothing happened to the guy?

Nobody reported it. Plus, some units are tight knit, sort of like cops and the Blue Brotherhood. It puts you in an awkward position to report some guy who you may need to cover your back later (even during peacetime exercises). You wouldn't want the foxhole you are sleeping in to 'accidentally' get rolled by an M-1 Abrams. Stuff happens.

There was also the question of Proof. You had to prove the guy did it. We all knew he did (dumbass Fred Flintstone looking Michigan fan that he was). Proving he did is a different story.

That said, some tings did get reported. I had a lieutenant friend whose admin clerk pulled an identity theft and used her info to buy a car.

[Dill]

(03-14-2019, 09:36 PM)michaelsean Wrote: And lots of support for the DNC and lots of people giving to both parties as the wealthy often do.

LOL I agree. Both sides do it! Or maybe there is only one side for these guys, determined by the bottom line. Trump bragged about donating to the Clintons--whatever was necessary.

When I see varied donations to both parties from CEOs and business owners over time, and in different states, I wonder if that tracks to pending legislation, state and federal.