Two more parents have been sentenced in the college admissions scandal. Been watching the news lately and no more sentences have been declared in the last six weeks.
According to my count of the status listed by Wikipedia, there are 6 parents who have a plea deal and are awaiting sentencing. Another 15 parents are awaiting trial.
New sentencing since my last post on 10/28/19:
#13 – 11/14/19 – Toby MacFarlane – Six months in prison, $150,000 fine, 200 hours community service, and two years supervised release. He paid $450,000 to get a son and daughter into USC claiming them to be athletes. The soccer and basketball programs were involved. He paid $200K for each child to the consultant running the scheme and paid $50K to the USC athletics program.
Article says this sentence is above the guidelines. This is the longest sentence yet in the admissions scandal. Judge Nathaniel Gorton labeled Mr. MacFarlane a “thief” in the hearing.
#12 – 10/31/19 – Jeffrey Bizzack -Two months in prison, $250,000 fine, 300 hours community service, and three years supervised release. He paid $250K to get his son into USC as a volleyball player even though he did not play the sport competitively. Prosecutors had sought nine months and $75K fine.
Previous sentencing:
To keep track of sentences, I’ll roll forward summaries of time earned by other parents.
#11 – 10/23/19 – Jane Buckingham – Three weeks in prison, $40,000 fine, and one year supervised release. She only paid $35K of the agreed $50K to fix her son’s ACT before the feds stopped the whole scheme. This is the last parent with a current plea deal that will be sentenced by Judge Talwani.
#10 – 10/19/19 – Robert Flaxman – One month in prison, $40,000 fine, and one year supervised release. He paid $75K to fix his daughter’s ACT score.
#9 – 10/16/19 – Marjorie Klapper – Three weeks in prison, $9,500 fine, 250 hours community service, one year supervised release. She paid $15k have her son’s ACT answers corrected. Prosecutors claim, and she denies, falsely listing him as a minority on school applications.
#7 and #8 – Gregory Abbott and Marcia Abbott – One month in prison for each, with $45,000 fine each and 250 hours community service each. They pleaded guilty to paying $125K to improve SAT and ACT test scores.
#6 – 10/11/19 – Peter Jan Sartorio – One year probation, $9,500 fine, 250 hours community service. He paid $15k for getting a faked ACT score. Article says that is a tie for the smallest under-the-table payment of any of the parents. Judge cut him slack because he didn’t try to hide the payment as a tax deduction and quickly admitted to his action. #5 – 10/4/19 – Agustin Huneeus Jr – Sentenced to 5 months in jail, $100,000 fine, 500 hours community service. He paid $100K for both the test score faking and buying admission as a stellar athlete instead of average. Article says he gave advice to the guy running the scheme on how to make it better.
#4 – 10/3/19 – Gordon Caplan – Sentenced to 1 month in jail, 1 year supervised release, $50,000 fine, and 250 hours community service. He paid $75k to have his daughter’s ACT test corrected. Judge continues to distinguish between those who bought test results versus those who paid bribes and submitted falsified applications. There is difference between test cheating and faking athletic status. He is scheduled to report to prison on November 6.
#3 – 9/27/19 – Stephen Semprevivo – Sentenced to 4 months in jail, 2 years supervised release, 500 hours community service, $100,000 fine, possible restitution to Georgetown. He allegedly paid $400,000 to the fake charity, which in turn allegedly paid the Georgetown tennis coach. Plan was to present the son as a competitive tennis player.
#2 – 9/25/19 – Devin Sloane – Sentenced to 4 months in jail, 2 years supervised release, 500 hours community service, and $95,000 fine. He paid $250,000 to get his non-water-polo-playing son into USC as a water polo player. Was accused of paying $200K to the charity run by the guy behind the whole scheme and another $50K allegedly to a former athletic director at USC
#1 – 9/13/19 – Felicity Huffman – Sentenced to 14 days in jail, one year supervised release, 250 hours community service and $30,000 fine. Prosecutors asked for 30 days, one year supervised release, and $20K fine.
Nonparent – 7/9/19 – Stanford sailing coach – Sentenced to 1 day in jail, 6 months house detention, 2 years supervised release, and $10K fine. Described as the least severe of the cases since the coach didn’t receive any money directly and only one student was admitted.