Nationwide College Cheating Scandal - Actresses, Business Owners Charged, Mar 2019 - #3

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Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Another week with more "Varsity Blues" sentences being handed out by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani. Today, parents Gregory & Marcia Abbott will be the 1st couple sentenced. The gov't asked for 8 months in prison, they say jail time is "not necessary" & "wholly unwarranted"
 
Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Federal judge is now going through sentencing guidelines with the two defendants. Prosecutors say Greg & Marcia Abbott are the only family to participate in the cheating scandal TWICE.
@NBC10Boston

J.M. Lawrence
@BostonJustice
Greg and Marcia Abbott both wrote poignant letters to the judge taking responsibility and exploring roots of their now regretted decision to pay bribe for ACT, SAT test cheating schemes. Daughter never knew, was devastated.

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
So far every parent sentenced has received some prison time, from 14-days to 5 months. The Abbotts are accused of paying $125K to have their daughter's SAT & ACT subject exams corrected. Past test fraud cases have gotten 14-days (Felicity Huffman) & 2 months (Gordon Caplan)

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
AUSA Eric Rosen said the fact that the Abbotts paid more money & cheated on tests twice make them among the most culpable of the parents who pled guilty. "They had to trick their own daughter twice. Cheating and bribery became a crutch and a pattern for the Abbotts."

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Gregory Abbott is visibly frustrated as Rosen lays out the allegations, shaking his head forcefully several times as the prosecutor makes his pitch for an 8-month prison term.
 
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Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
“The Abbotts rank up there as some of the more brazen.” Prosecutors are now saying the Abbotts deserve more prison time because they paid to get their daughter “nearly perfect” test scores.


Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Federal prosecutors wrap up by asking the judge to sentence the Abbotts to EIGHT MONTHS in prison. The judge is now asking prosecutors why the Abbotts are different than other parents that have already pleaded guilty in the #collegeadmissionsscandal.
 
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Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Gregory Abbott's attorney says the couple sought out a college counselor because their daughter was affected by Lyme Disease "That college counselor they were introduced to was Rick Singer, and that led them down a path that they made a terrible decision that they own."

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
A lawyer for Greg Abbott now addressing the judge arguing for a lesser sentence since they didn’t photoshop anything. Other parents in the scandal are accused of photoshopping their children’s faces to make them appear as student athletes to get them into elite colleges

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Greg Abbott’s lawyer also argues Abbott’s daughter was sick at the time, and his client reached out to a college admissions counselor for help. That counselor: Rick Singer. The alleged mastermind of the entire
#collegeadmissionsscandal.
 
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Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Daniel Stein, Greg Abbott's lawyer, argues most 1st time, non-violent offenders, like his client, avoid prison time if they plead guilty & accept responsibility. "It would promote respect for the law to show mercy in this case."

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Greg Abbott’s lawyer now telling the federal judge that his client shouldn’t be sent to prison, rather probation, due to his life of community service.
 
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Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Now a lawyer for Marcia Abbott is addressing the judge. Lawyers say Mrs. Abbott & Greg Abbott were separated at the time of #scandal. Lawyer arguing some of the transcripts of recorded telephone calls involving his client discussing test scores is wrong.

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Marcia Abbot's atty, Arlo Devlin-Brown says the family bucked under tough circumstances & should be afforded mercy. "This was a family under extraordinary pressure from sickness, from addiction, from splitting up, it can weaken the fiber of your otherwise strong moral senses."

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Mrs. Abbott’s lawyer painting a picture of a family “under enormous pressure” at the time of the #collegeadmissionsscandal. “Marcia Abbott would not, in her wildest dreams, have done something like this had it not been under these circumstances.”

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
“This is not a crime that was driven by narcissism or privilege.” Marcia Abbott’s lawyer ends his address to the federal judge by asking for ZERO prison time.
 
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Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Greg Abbott hugs his wife as he makes his way to the podium to address Judge Talwani & sobs a bit as he reads a statement & mentions his daughter, who is suffering from Lyme Disease. "I am guilty of trying to spare my children pain, our daughter has looked pain in the face."

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Greg Abbott addressing the judge. He kissed his wife on the head as he walked to the podium. Abbott’s voice is cracking as he talks to the judge about to sentence him. “In this tragic instance, I failed.”

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
“In this perfect storm, I buckled.” Gregory Abbott now apologizing for his role in paying $125k to improve his daughter’s test scores. “I knew my daughter was getting some help that was outside the rules.”
 
Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Marcia Abbott also reads a lengthy statement saying their daughter's home schooling & Lyme Disease led to their interactions with Rick Singer. "We latched on to what we thought was a valid resource, but turned out to be a corrupt lifeline. Ultimately I have only myself to blame"

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
Marcia Abbott now addressing the judge. “Ultimately I only have myself to blame.” Abbott says she does NOT look at college as a status symbol but was looking to help her daughter suffering from Lyme disease.

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston
“My husband and I were both motivated by good intentions...but this does not excuse our actions.” Marcia Abbott now asking for forgiveness. “I stand before you today extremely contrite and remorseful.”

EGYWG_7WsAAAwiX
 
Chris Villani on Twitter

The parents will also be fined $45,000 each and perform 250 hours of community service each. They will report to prison separately, with Marcia Abbott going first on Nov. 19 and Gregory reporting on Jan 3.

Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston
@EliNBCBoston

#BREAKING: Gregory & Marcia Abbott being allowed to stagger their time in federal prison to allow for care or their children. Mrs. Abbott ordered to report to federal prison on Nov 20th. Mr. Abbott ordered to report to federal prison on Jan 3rd.
@NBC10Boston
 
The first couple to be sentenced together in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal will each serve a month behind bars.

Gregory and Marcia Abbott paid $50,000 to have a test proctor falsify their daughter's ACT exam in 2018, and $75,000 to do the same in her SAT subject tests.

Their daughter did not know about the plot, which the Abbotts said they only went through with because of the teenager's debilitating Lyme Disease.

The disease also forced her to withdraw from school and turn down a soloist role with the Metropolitan Opera in New York according to the Abbotts.

Couple who paid proctor to cheat on Lyme-Diseased daughter's tests gets one month prison sentence | Daily Mail Online
 
UP NEXT:

Peter Jan SARTORIO - ( entrepreneur - parent) - pled guilty
10/11/19 at 2:30 pm – Sentencing hearing before Judge Talwani.
Paid $15,000 to have a test proctor correct his daughter's answers on an ACT test



ALREADY SENTENCED/PLED GUILTY:​

John VANDEMOER - former Stanford sailing coach - pled guilty
Arranging bribes of $110,000 and $160,000 to the sailing program and then designating two applicants, who had no sailing experience, as sailing recruits.
Sentence: 1 day incarceration (deemed served); 2 years of supervised release with the first 6 months to be served in home detention; $10,000 fine

Rudolph “Rudy” MEREDITH - former soccer coach at Yale - pled guilty
Accepted bribes of almost $1,000,000 to facilitate the admission of 2 students to Yale as recruited soccer athletes.
Agreed to cooperate with the government's investigation. There is no sentencing hearing scheduled at this time.

Felicity HUFFMAN - actress (parent) - pled guilty
Paid $15,000 to facilitate cheating for her daughter on the SATs
Sentence: 14 days in prison; 1 year of supervised release; 250 hours of community service; $30,000 fine
She is scheduled to report to prison on Oct. 25

Devin SLOANE - businessman (parent) - pled guilty
Funneled more than $250,000 to bribe a coach at USC; staged photos and paid to have his son's image photo-shopped into water polo pictures
Sentence: 4 months in prison; 2 years of supervised release; 500 hours of community service; $95,000 fine
The judge ordered him to report to prison Dec. 3

Gordon CAPLAN - lawyer (parent) - pled guilty
Paid $75,000 to have someone correct answers on his daughter's ACT test
Sentence: 1 month in prison; 1 year of supervised release; 250 hours of community service; $50,000 fine
He was ordered to report to prison Nov. 6.

Agustin HUNEEUS Jr. - wine company owner (parent) - pled guilty
Paid $300,000 to boost his daughter’s SAT scores and to try to get her recruited as a water polo player at USC
Sentence: 5 months in prison; 2 years of supervised release; 500 hours of community service; $100,000 fine
He is scheduled to report to federal prison on Nov. 4.

Gregory ABBOTT & Marcia ABBOTT - (CEO and wife - parents) - pled guilty
Paid $50,000 to have a test proctor correct their daughter’s ACT exam answers, along with $75,000 to rig her SAT subject tests
Sentence: Gregory: 1 month in prison; 1 year of supervised release; 250 hours of community service; $45,000 fine
Sentence: Marcia: 1 month in prison; 1 year of supervised release; 250 hours of community service; $45,000 fine
Gregory Abbott was ordered to report to federal prison Nov. 20
Marcia Abbott was ordered to report to federal prison Jan. 3.
 
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scdiv said:
Andrew Martinez on Twitter
Talwani sentences both Gregory and Marcia Abbott to one month in prison, and orders $45,000 fines. Their attorneys successfully request to have their sentences staggered, so each parent can care for their ill daughter.

Aww they can spend Christmas and New Year's together.....
Click to expand...
I was just thinking the same, seems to be a very compassionate judge.
 
Judge to sentence Bay Area entrepreneur who paid $15G for test score – Boston Herald

A Bay Area entrepreneur who paid $15,000 to boost his daughter’s ACT score and then attempted to cover it up, telling college admissions scandal scheme leader Rick Singer there was no record of payments, will be the eighth parent sentenced Friday in federal court.

Prosecutors want Peter Jan Sartorio to spend one month in prison and pay a $9,500 fine for paying Singer in cash to have two corrupt proctors correct answers on his daughter’s test score in June 2017 at Singer’s specified West Hollywood testing center, hundreds of miles away from their Menlo Park, Calif., home.

Sartorio paid Singer in cash increments between $4,000 and $6,000 from two different bank accounts in three separate transactions in June 2017, avoiding bank reporting requirements for transactions over $10,000.

“There is no … no … there is no record on my end like a 1040,” Sartorio told Singer on a recorded phone call. “There is nothing on my end that shows that your company, Rick, or anybody, received any cash payments.”

Sartorio’s lawyer, in asking for a sentence of probation, wrote in a sentencing memo his client is the founder of a small, natural-food company and is “neither rich nor famous” in comparison to the other defendants in the case.
 
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Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
PJ Sartorio ties Felicity Huffman for the smallest bribe amount paid. As in Huffman's case, the gov't is asking for 1 month in prison and the defendant is asking for probation. Huffman got 2 weeks, as you may recall.

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Asst. US Atty Kristen Kearney said Sartorio "shouldn't get a discount just because he isn't as wealthy or as well known as his codefendants." Whether a defendant is a millionaire 100 times over, or just a few times over, it's still a serious crime, she said.

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Sartorio's lawyer says his client is not a repeat player, was a passive participant in the scheme & did not involve his child, plus he was the 1st to plead guilty. Sartorio is the last parent (who has pled guilty) who may have a shot to escape prison time, but we shall see.

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Sartorio: "I recognize what I did was wrong. I offer no excuses, theres no justifications for those actions." Choking up slightly, he adds, "This had nothing to do with my daughter, this is 100 percent about me ... I own it"

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
The fact that Sartorio paid in cash may help him, Judge Talwani says it shows that, even though he committed a crime, "you're not fooling yourself or anyone else about it."

Chris Villani
@ChrisVillani44
Burrito magnate PJ Sartorio becomes the first "Varsity Blues" parent to escape prison time, he gets 1 year of probation and 250 hours of community service & a $9,500 fine.
 
The happiest time of the year is coming up, Holidays! I wonder how all of these families will be doing? Huffman can talk about her incarceration during Thanksgiving dinner. And I wonder how Lori Loughlin and her husband will be doing, at Christmas, with their daughters, decorating The tree, sipping cocoa, talking about trial dates.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
 
Reminder: Tonight at 8:00PM (Eastern) on Lifetime -

The College Admissions Scandal
8:00 - 10:03p
(2019)Two wealthy mothers share an obsession with getting their teenagers into the best colleges.

Followed by: Beyond the Headlines - College Admissions Scandal hosted by Gretchen Carlson. Movie repeats at 11:03PM.
 
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mickey2942 said:
The happiest time of the year is coming up, Holidays! I wonder how all of these families will be doing? Huffman can talk about her incarceration during Thanksgiving dinner. And I wonder how Lori Loughlin and her husband will be doing, at Christmas, with their daughters, decorating The tree, sipping cocoa, talking about trial dates.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Click to expand...

Somehow, and I don't know why, I do not picture the Loughlin family decorating their tree together or doing the decorating themselves at all and sipping cocoa together... I see a daughter pouting and throwing a fit that she did not get the right gifts... Even after tons of money was spent on them...

This family, imo, has handled this so incorrectly and blatantly as if it is "nothing" and no big deal. Talk about advertising your privilege...

ITA.

Jmo.
 
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