College admission bribery linking fifty-two persons of interest involves a mesh of how to admit any student to any university they want without the hassle of admission tests.
The name of the college where you graduate is a big thing for a few celebrities, entrepreneurs, famous personalities, and people from the elite society; the same concept applies to their children. Having your child graduate from a prestige university rings a bell for the people looking up to you. But, unfortunately, not all dreams come true. These prestige universities have high-level expectations from aspiring students who want to carry their brand of learning, which is why admission tests are there to measure if they fit.
The William Singer college admission scandal
This scandal made a hit last March 2019, it involves William Singer, owner of a college counseling company in Newport Beach, California. But unlike other college counseling companies, Singer only uses this as a font to cover up his secret service of fabricating college admissions in the US.
The system runs like this, a client who wishes to admit his child into a university of choice will pay Singer a huge sum of money, then, Singer will do the needed fabrications to successfully admit the child. Singer has connections inside prestige universities who accept the bribes he makes to allow the student’s admission pass through.
Fake recruitment process
One of the defendants involved in this scandal is Xiaoning Sui, from British Columbia. Sui wanted her son to attend the University of California (UCLA), so she paid Singer $400,000 to make this happen. To let Sui’s son in, Singer will introduce Sui’s son as a top recruit for the soccer program of UCLA.
'Operation Varsity Blues' Update: Spanish authorities providing assistance to #FBI Boston arrested Xiaoning Sui, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, in Spain earlier today for her role in using bribery & fraud to facilitate her son's admission to UCLA. https://t.co/3n1xb7Ra0A
— FBI Boston (@FBIBoston) September 17, 2019
Singer submitted falsified documents of the boy’s soccer profile, making him an ace scorer for two private ball clubs in Canada. He conspired with Laura Janke, a government cooperator to falsify the child’s profile.
He then conspired with UCLA men’s soccer coach, Jorge Salcedo to take in Sui’s son as a top recruit and presented it to the committee. Sui’s son was accepted, awarded 25% scholarship discount as a student-athlete, while Salcedo received $100,000 from Singer as payment.
Side door transaction
This transaction is what Singer refers to as the “side door” – the bribing process on how to admit any student to any university they want without the hassle of admission tests. “Front door”, is the term used for the standard process of entering a college of choice, good grades, take the admission test, apply to the college, and wait for a welcome to the program mail.
As of now, the US attorney’s office is piling up the needed documents to push with through with the charges against the fifty-two defendants involved in the college admission conspiracy. More information will be released by Oct..2 when some of the defendants will appear in conferences with the trial judge handling the case.
