DOJ busts dozens in massive college admission cheating scheme

[MomentsofSanity]

This is developing now as they lay out all the ways the cheating occurred. It has snagged a few actresses as well, Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admission-cheating-scheme/index.html

The purpose of the alleged scam was to help student athletes get into college, regardless of their athletic ability, according to the indictment.

It alleges that a third party took the ACT and SAT college entrance exams in place of students. The documents also allege that some defendants created fake athletic profiles for students to make them appear to be successful athletes and get them into college.

Of the defendants, several are employed as sports coaches or administrators at the University of Southern California, UCLA and Yale and Wake Forest universities. The indictment accuses defendants of committing crimes between 2011 and 2019.

 

[ivwshane]

The wealthy strike again!!

 

[HomerJS]

Rich people cheating? Trump approves

 

[fskimospy]

Dummies. Don’t they know the right way to bribe college officials is to just make large donations shortly before your kid applies? Colleges know what’s up and they look for that shit.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Damn they paid between 100K and $6.5 Million to get their kids into schools. How fucking stupid is your kid that you have to pay out $6.5 Million? Please be Don JR. Please be Don Jr.

 

[fskimospy]

Damn they paid between 100K and $6.5 Million to get their kids into schools. How fucking stupid is your kid that you have to pay out $6.5 Million? Please be Don JR. Please be Don Jr.

Nah, Don Jr. probably got in the same way that Kushner got into Harvard. It's bribery, but the legal kind because it's the -wink wink- kind as opposed to the explicit ask. Apparently Kusher was a poor student in high school and had mediocre SAT scores but his dad pledged $2.5 million to Harvard at the same time Jared applied. Amazingly enough the poor student with bad SAT's made the cut!

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard

 

[Homerboy]

that went by the name "Operation Varsity Blues."

LOL fucking classic.

 

[allisolm]

Damn they paid between 100K and $6.5 Million to get their kids into schools. How fucking stupid is your kid that you have to pay out $6.5 Million? Please be Don JR. Please be Don Jr.

What I was thinking. Lori Laughlin supposedly paid $500,000 for her 2 girls. She could have just paid for 4 yrs of college each, unless they were were terminally stupid in which case they probably wouldn't have made it through anyway. At least Huffman only "contributed" $15,000.

Don't know how it will all shake out but both women are charged with felonies. "Felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services (whatever that is)mail fraud."

 

[Maxima1]

Damn they paid between 100K and $6.5 Million to get their kids into schools. How fucking stupid is your kid that you have to pay out $6.5 Million? Please be Don JR. Please be Don Jr.

This one always cracks me up:

The late William T. Kelley, who taught Trump at the University of Pennsylvania, said, “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had.”

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Dummies. Don’t they know the right way to bribe college officials is to just make large donations shortly before your kid applies? Colleges know what’s up and they look for that shit.

Yeah but if you're an athlete then you need even less....

I mean, you know... because educational institutions should be admitting people based on their ability to perform in sports

 

[soundforbjt]

Yeah but if you're an athlete then you need even less....

I mean, you know... because educational institutions should be admitting people based on their ability to perform in sports

If they're truly good in sports, it's the colleges who would be paying.

 

[fskimospy]

Yeah but if you're an athlete then you need even less....

I mean, you know... because educational institutions should be admitting people based on their ability to perform in sports

Meh, at least the college is selecting then based on something they are open about valuing as a part of their student body.

Colleges can't admit they admit the incapable children of rich donors because that would damage their academic brand so they pretend the bribes they are paid are donations out of the goodness of that rich person's heart and the college happened to uncover their child's hidden abilities just in time for acceptance. I mean however dimwitted Jared Kushner happens to be (and he does appear to be pretty stupid), GWB was by all accounts even less capable and he got into Yale.

 

[woolfe9998]

So what do these schools do with the kids? I assume some are still actively enrolled.

 

[UglyCasanova]

Why do this, the ROI I doubt is 6 million. Just go to a different college if you don’t get in. People put way to much stock into "I must go to his school". We have a fantastic university around here where anyone can basically get in but the education it delivers is top notch.

 

[fskimospy]

So what do these schools do with the kids? I assume some are still actively enrolled.

I would hope they let them finish so long as there's not evidence they were engaged in the scheme somehow?

It's not the kids' fault their parents bribed the school and it's not like you can go back in time and un-admit them so that someone else can take their place.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Ummmm... bahahahahahahahaha

https://twitter.com/x/status/768888270772064256

 

[fskimospy]

Why do this, the ROI I doubt is 6 million. Just go to a different college if you don’t get in. People put way to much stock into "I must go to his school". We have a fantastic university around here where anyone can basically get in but the education it delivers is top notch.

People don't go to elite universities for the quality of education.

 

[MomentsofSanity]

I would hope they let them finish so long as there's not evidence they were engaged in the scheme somehow?

It's not the kids' fault their parents bribed the school and it's not like you can go back in time and un-admit them so that someone else can take their place.

I would think they kids would be aware they didn't actually take the SAT's and weren't actually involved in the athletics that were staged for them.

 

[ivwshane]

I would hope they let them finish so long as there's not evidence they were engaged in the scheme somehow?

It's not the kids' fault their parents bribed the school and it's not like you can go back in time and un-admit them so that someone else can take their place.

Some of the kids helped stage photos of themselves participating in sports they didn't even play. So yeah some of the kids should be held responsible. They cheated to get into schools they didn't qualify for and should be kicked out to make room for kids that actually qualify.

 

[fskimospy]

I would think they kids would be aware they didn't actually take the SAT's and weren't actually involved in the athletics that were staged for them.

Yes, so in cases there was evidence that they also defrauded the university or whatever then they should be booted out under just about any university's honor code.

 

[woolfe9998]

I would hope they let them finish so long as there's not evidence they were engaged in the scheme somehow?

It's not the kids' fault their parents bribed the school and it's not like you can go back in time and un-admit them so that someone else can take their place.

Some of those students cheated on the SAT, which was arranged by the parents but the students had to know that someone else was taking the test for them.

I'm a little undecided on what should happen to them.

These parents will do jail time measured in months. A far better punishment is to deprive them of the benefit of their fraud.

 

[fskimospy]

Some of those students cheated on the SAT, which was arranged by the parents but the students had to know that someone else was taking the test for them.

I'm a little undecided on what should happen to them.

Meh, in those cases I'm not. Universities have standards of conduct for their students, one of which is most certainly academic integrity which should extend to your academic qualifications for admittance. If their parents paid someone else to take a final for them they would likely be expelled and I don't see why this is any different.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Meh, at least the college is selecting then based on something they are open about valuing as a part of their student body.

Colleges can't admit they admit the incapable children of rich donors because that would damage their academic brand so they pretend the bribes they are paid are donations out of the goodness of that rich person's heart and the college happened to uncover their child's hidden abilities just in time for acceptance. I mean however dimwitted Jared Kushner happens to be (and he does appear to be pretty stupid), GWB was by all accounts even less capable and he got into Yale.

Honestly I think the stupid NCAA sporting shindigs with colleges is a part of the problem with the costs of colleges (along with our loan system). Gotta pay big bucks for an expensive ass coaching crew, along with upgraded equipment, upgraded stadium, tons of marketing, etc...

I have a general disgust for sporting in something that is for education. The two are essentially opposites.

At this point there is no return though - since everyone seems to get a hard-on for their college's sporting teams.

 

[woolfe9998]

Meh, in those cases I'm not. Universities have standards of conduct for their students, one of which is most certainly academic integrity which should extend to your academic qualifications for admittance. If their parents paid someone else to take a final for them they would likely be expelled and I don't see why this is any different.

It happened in the case of Huffman's kid and several of the others. I added this comment to my prior post:

These parents will do jail time measured in months. A far better punishment is to deprive them of the benefit of their fraud.

 

[brandonbull]

Rich people cheating? Trump approves

And so does the party of rich elites.