William Rick Singer, the man behind a massive college admissions cheating scheme, told authorities that he fraudulently helped 761 wealthy families get their children into top colleges across the country. Singer pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court to racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges. The 58-year-old faces up to 65 years in prison.
Singer collected millions of dollars from parents, which he used to run his nationwide cheating scheme. He would bribe college entrance exam proctors to change the answers after the tests had been submitted or to allow stand-ins to take the tests for people. In one instance, he requested a handwriting sample from the parents of one of the applicants so the person he paid to take the test would be able to imitate it during the written portion of the test.
He also bribed college coaches and created fake athlete profiles to give some kids an advantage over other qualified applicants.
Prosecutors charged over 50 people in the scheme, including television actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Loughlin is accused of paying Singer $500,000 to help her two daughters get into the University of Southern California, while Huffman allegedly paid him $15,000 to have a proctor correct wrong answers on her daughter's SATs.
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