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

[JerseyGirl]

Hauser Private Equity, headquartered in the penthouse of the Tower at the Kenwood Collection in Cincinnati, was listed as one of William “Rick” Singer’s assets in the sham charity that Singer used to hide the bribery money from those parents. Federal prosecutors are seeking to seize Singer’s investment in Hauser, although court documents give no details on exactly what the investment is or its size.

How is a Cincinnati area investment firm tied to college admissions bribery scandal?

 

[scdiv]

Olivia Jade moves out of Lori Loughlin’s mansion amid admissions scandal

https://pagesix.com/2019/05/03/oliv...4.1075882730.1555990657-1292344417.1555990657

not much of interest...

 

[squareandrabbet]

The mother the Chinese student who was admitted to Stanford University said the family gave $6.5 million as a donation to help others. Zhao said she’d sought college advisory services from Singer because she was not familiar with the admission process for colleges in the United States.

While Singer’s company provided “educational advisory services,” she said, it did not guarantee admission into any school. Her daughter has a record of “good academic performance and extracurricular achievements,” and had offers from several US colleges, she said.

“Since the matters concerning Mr. Singer and his foundation have been widely reported, Mrs. Zhao has come to realize she has been misled, her generosity has been taken advantage of and her daughter has fallen victim to the scam,” the statement said.

Woman says she was scammed by college admissions scandal mastermind

Unfortunately this seems to have been partially contradicted by the video I posted from the New York Post, wherein she claims she has a scholarship (! Yeah right, I’m sure the children of billionaires who honestly report their income are given grants)...

 

[Laughing]

Personally, I have more leeway for these international families. Years ago I had a colleague who was born on the Mainland & raised in Taiwan.

If anyone complained about the power of the government in the US, she said "You have no idea."

I can imagine financially struggling individuals accepting/expecting gifts & tips from certain families for processing even typical paperwork. I can imagine wealthy people being prepared with such gifts/tips for paperwork processing.

JMHO, of course.

 

[mickey2942]

Personally, I have more leeway for these international families. Years ago I had a colleague who was born on the Mainland & raised in Taiwan.

If anyone complained about the power of the government in the US, she said "You have no idea."

I can imagine financially struggling individuals accepting/expecting gifts & tips from certain families for processing even typical paperwork. I can imagine wealthy people being prepared with such gifts/tips for paperwork processing.

JMHO, of course.

I agree with you on this. In many places, bribery is just considered part of the regular process. And believe it or not, it does occur in our own government. Usually those bad apples are caught and put in prison, eventually.

 

[human]

I agree with you on this. In many places, bribery is just considered part of the regular process. And believe it or not, it does occur in our own government. Usually those bad apples are caught and put in prison, eventually.

Lol. Seems to be SOP in US govt today

 

[mickey2942]

Lol. Seems to be SOP in US govt today

Immigration Officer Took Egg Rolls, Cash as Bribes, Feds Say | HuffPost

 

[Tighthead]

I agree with you on this. In many places, bribery is just considered part of the regular process. And believe it or not, it does occur in our own government. Usually those bad apples are caught and put in prison, eventually.

Lots of people, often former politicians, make a nice living as “foreign business consultants” assisting people with who to pay, how much to pay and how to do it. It’s a different world.

 

[kaen]

Unfortunately this seems to have been partially contradicted by the video I posted from the New York Post, wherein she claims she has a scholarship (! Yeah right, I’m sure the children of billionaires who honestly report their income are given grants)...

While scholarships are different than grants, it does appear that she could have been so high performing to get a scholarship. It is not uncommon for Chinese students to work incredibly hard during middle/high school years as testing determines who goes where for college. She was at a private school (not uncommon for uber rich families) to work on her language skills and work very hard for college admissions. Since we don't know where she took her ACT tests, she might have actually had that score and been qualified for a high caliber college. Sad that her parents thought they had to donate for her admissions and that she got in on her own accord b/c now she has lost it all.

 

[kaen]

NY POST: She said she scored poorly on tests in elementary school, but studied hard and got 33 out of a possible 36 on the ACT, and 43 out of 45 on her International Baccalaureate exams.

"In the US, universities don’t release specified IB Diploma Program cut-off scores.

At least for the Ivy League and more selective colleges, you’re going to need a healthy mix of sixes and sevens (no less than six) in your subjects for a shot at admission. A score in the 40s is going to make you a more competitive candidate academically (note: a lot of non-academic factors are at play), but a 38 is considered a good grade.

If you’re aiming for the Ivies, you certainly don’t want to be dipping below the 36 mark. Even then, the rest of your application had better be pretty exceptional to compensate for a score on the lower end." The IB Scores Needed for the Top Universities in the World

Her 33 ACT and 43 IB are great scores (I don't think there was evidence that she was part of the Singer standardized test club.) Schools are very careful about IB test cheating. Wellington College (Queen Victoria founded it) is very well known and hard to get into. She was probably a very good student there.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Yes, he had his own testing enters in the Los Angeles, CA and Houston, TX area.

Here's how the college admissions scam allegedly worked

Igor Dvorskiy, who administered SAT and ACT tests in Los Angeles, and Lisa "Niki" Williams, who administered the tests at a public high school in Houston, are both accused of accepting bribes to allow Riddell to take the tests.

This is outrageous!! So, not only were the children not academically gifted enough to be admitted into their desired university, their A-list parents were dumb enough to potentially submarine their own already successful careers to bribe people to get the kids admitted. Ummmm...and who were they going to bribe for the 4-5 years the average bachelors degree takes to complete? SMH

These people were already well connected. They and their children would have been much better served doing what generations of well connected people have done for any of their children who were not college material, take that 500k and set their child up running a business of some sort - with a business manager to oversee day-to-day operations! Saving face for all, and even some tax write-offs to boot.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

I finally got a chance to read the article and came here to comment on exactly this part. And this:

"“Calling in favors, donating money to the alumni association, hiring consultants. Those are all things that parents do. And so they gave money to this consultant, not entirely knowing everything that was going to be done," the source explained. "When it all fell apart, nobody was as surprised as they were that they were in trouble.”"

Such baloney. They had their daughters pose for 'rowing pictures', caused a scene in the guidance counselor's office and got cautioned not to do it again because they might out the whole scheme, and were in phone calls with Singer where they clearly knew their so-called charitable donations were all that - so-called.

Please. Just because I didn't graduate from USC doesn't mean I'm too dumb to see through lies.

MOO

Oh and in case anyone forgot (are you listening, Lori and Massimo?), here's what actually happened ('allegedly'):

Lori Loughlin Allegedly Discussed With Scam Ringleader How to Explain Her Bribe to the IRS

"“I just want to give you a heads-up that my foundation is being audited,” Singer — identified as a cooperating witness in the affidavit — allegedly said to Giannulli in one conversation. “They asked me about your 2 payments of $200,000. And, of course, I’m not gonna say anything about your payments going to [crew coach] Donna Heinel at USC to get the girls into USC, through crew.”

“Sure,” Giannulli allegedly responded.

“So I just want to make sure our stories are the same, and that your $400K was paid to our foundation to help underserved kids.”

In a subsequent call with Loughlin, Singer allegedly repeated the information about the IRS. Loughlin allegedly agreed that they would tell the IRS that the money they paid was a charitable donation, and not used to secure Olivia Jade’s spot at USC.

“So we just have to say we made a donation to your foundation and that’s it, end of story,” Loughlin allegedly said."

This is disgusting!

 

[GoBuckeyes]

USC’s ex-Athletic Director now drives for Lyft.

USC official fired in college admissions scandal works as Lyft driver after putting home on market | Daily Mail Online

(I admit that I laughed when I read this headline! Does that make me a bad person? Lol)

If it does, then I am too. Lol

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Somebody needs to remind them that there are no script writers who will write the happy ending.

 

[GoBuckeyes]

Personally, I have more leeway for these international families. Years ago I had a colleague who was born on the Mainland & raised in Taiwan.

If anyone complained about the power of the government in the US, she said "You have no idea."

I can imagine financially struggling individuals accepting/expecting gifts & tips from certain families for processing even typical paperwork. I can imagine wealthy people being prepared with such gifts/tips for paperwork processing.

JMHO, of course.

I'm not buying it. You referenced your experience "years ago." With the internet and how easily it is to research a process, sorry, no sympathy here. Although, I recognize your absolute right to your opinion and that it's equally as valid as my opinion.

 

[apricotpeach]

I have no sympathy for these particular international families. While it is conceivable that an international student might be less familiar with the US college admissions process, these are rich families who must know how the real world works. You don't rise up to the upper echelons of whatever society you live in without at least knowing that bribes and quid pro quo exists. They just might not think it's that big of a deal - they have the money, why can't they use it to get an advantage? Like Lori Loughlin and her husband.

I find it funny that the girl wanted to work for the Chinese government (after graduation). Her father could simply use his connections and money to get her a nice post.

Her scores might have been on par for admission into a high caliber college like Stanford, but we all know that lots of applicants have great scores and still don't get admitted. There's only a certain number of slots so an extracurricular activity (like sailing) could have been just the thing to boost this candidate over another candidate.

 

[kaen]

I have no sympathy for these particular international families. While it is conceivable that an international student might be less familiar with the US college admissions process, these are rich families who must know how the real world works. You don't rise up to the upper echelons of whatever society you live in without at least knowing that bribes and quid pro quo exists. They just might not think it's that big of a deal - they have the money, why can't they use it to get an advantage? Like Lori Loughlin and her husband.

I find it funny that the girl wanted to work for the Chinese government (after graduation). Her father could simply use his connections and money to get her a nice post.

Her scores might have been on par for admission into a high caliber college like Stanford, but we all know that lots of applicants have great scores and still don't get admitted. There's only a certain number of slots so an extracurricular activity (like sailing) could have been just the thing to boost this candidate over another candidate.

No doubt. This is a young woman who wasn't side-doored. She had the qualifications. The actions were wrong-- no argument from me.

 

[human]

Immigration Officer Took Egg Rolls, Cash as Bribes, Feds Say | HuffPost

silly. They should steal millions. Not much penalty for that

 

[squareandrabbet]

While scholarships are different than grants, it does appear that she could have been so high performing to get a scholarship. It is not uncommon for Chinese students to work incredibly hard during middle/high school years as testing determines who goes where for college. She was at a private school (not uncommon for uber rich families) to work on her language skills and work very hard for college admissions. Since we don't know where she took her ACT tests, she might have actually had that score and been qualified for a high caliber college. Sad that her parents thought they had to donate for her admissions and that she got in on her own accord b/c now she has lost it all.

While I agree these are good qualifications, Stanford’s own financial aid policy seems to belie this, and to really treat scholarships as no different than grants, provided the parents have reported their income honestly;

Determining Eligibility
Our financial aid program is need-based, meaning that all aid eligibility is determined by your family’s financial circumstances. While you and your parents have the primary responsibility for paying for college, financial aid can bridge the gap between the total costs and your ability to pay.

We use a standard method to carefully review your family’s financial circumstances and establish an expected contribution from you and your parents. If we determine that you cannot meet the student budget based on that calculated amount, we will award or recommend scholarships, grants or other resources to help you.

It also does not seem to change for international students:

International Students : Stanford University

 

[kaen]

While I agree these are good qualifications, Stanford’s own financial aid policy seems to belie this, and to really treat scholarships as no different than grants, provided the parents have reported their income honestly;



It also does not seem to change for international students:

International Students : Stanford University

True, she did not get a Stanford scholarship but there are many scholarships that she could have received that were not university awarded. We don't know what she received. You can look at scholarships.com or fastweb.com and find many that she may have qualified for. I am unfamiliar with programs that may have been targeted specifically to Chinese students.