Sentencing and current status for parents in college admissions scandal.

Periodically I update the status of the parents who tried to cheat their children into colleges. Here is a recap of the players, their sentences, and current status.

Detention status is from the Bureau of Prison’s inmate locator database.

Why am I spending the time to track all this information? Several reasons.

• First, it is interesting.
• Second, this provides a superb object lesson in the consequences of cheating, especially when such ethical/moral failures move into the criminal realm.
• Third, it provides you and me background information on how the federal judicial system works.
• Fourth, this accumulates the players and status for those who want to find such information.

 

#29? – Mark Hauser – guilty plea entered; plea deal recommends six months prison time, one year supervised release, and $40K fine.  Sentencing expected in January 2021. (9/25/20)

#27 & #28 – Todd Blake and Diane Blake – Plea agreements call for six weeks prison time for wife and four months for husband. Terms also call for two years supervised release, 100 hours community service, and $125,000 fine for each of them. Sentencing is scheduled for 11/17/20. (7/14/20)

 

#26?? – Robert Repella – plea agreement calls for 10 months in prison, one year supervised release, and find a $40,000. Sentencing is scheduled for 12/16/20. (5/26/20)

 

#25 – Peter Dameris – Sentenced to one year home confinement, three years supervised released, and $95,000 fine for paying $300,000 to organizer of scam to have his son admitted to Georgetown as a tennis player even though the son was a competitive rower but reportedly did not play tennis. (5/24/20)

10/31/20 status – Obviously not listed at Bureau of Prisons website since he will be serving home confinement instead of time in federal prison.

 

#23? & #24? – Bruce and Divina Isackson – Pleaded guilty to two felony counts for her and four felony counts for him related to paying $600K to get one daughter admitted to UCLA and another daughter admitted to USC. Fed’s recommendation for sentencing is prison time at low end of guidelines, one year supervised release for both, fine of $100K for her plus fine of $150K for him, plus restitution of $139,509 to the IRS. Low end of the guideline suggests range of 37-46 months for him and 27-33 months for her. Sentencing is scheduled for 1/21/21.

 

#21 & #22 – Lori Laughlin and Mossimo Giannulli – Ms. Laughlen earned 2 months in prison, $150,000 fine, 2 years supervised release, and 100 hours community service.  Mr. Giunnulli earned 5 months prison time, $250,000 fine, 2 years supervised release, and 250 hours community service.  They paid the organizer of the scam $500,000 to structure a scheme to present their two daughters as experienced rowing athletes even though neither of the children had any experience in the sport. The couple had loudly declared their innocence until entering a guilty plea back in May. Both of them were ordered to report to prison in November.

10/31/30 Loughlin status – Inmate register number 77827-112, age 56, confined at Dublin Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Alameda County, California, with release date unknown. She reported to prison on 11/19/20, which implies the release date will be about 1/19/21.

10/31/20 Giannulli status – inmate register number 77808-112, age 57, not in Bureau of Prison custody, with release date unknown.

 

#20 – 7/29/20- Manuel Henriquez – Six months in prison, $200,000 fine, 200 hours community service, and 2 years supervised release. He and his wife, who earned seven months in prison and a $200K fine, paid to have some take tests for their two daughters on five occasions and fake one daughter as a tennis player to get her into Georgetown. He was ordered to jail in February 2021 which will be one month after his wife gets out of prison.

10/31/20 status – not listed at Bureau of Prisons website.

 

#19 – 7/15/20- Karen Littlefair – Five weeks in prison, $209,000 fine, 300 hours community service. Also two years supervised release..  She paid $9,000 to have someone take four on-line classes for her son, who had been placed on academic probation at Georgetown.  When her son only received a fake “C’ for one of the classes, she asked for a discount on the fee, but was declined.  The short sentence of five weeks is consistent with the group of people who only paid for tests. I’ll guess the fine of $209,000 is symbolically based on $200K plus the amount she paid of $9K. As collateral punishment, her son resigned from his position with the Treasury Department and his degree from Georgetown was revoked.  I’ll not mention his name, but you can find it if you wish. I’ll guess you can find it with a few moments of research anytime you become curious in the next several decades.

10/31/20 status – inmate register number 00983-509 confined at Pekin FCI in central Illinois, age 58, release date is 11/10/20.

 

#18 – 7/15/20 – David Sidoo – Ninety days in prison, $250,000 fine, one year of supervised release. No community service. He paid $200,000 to have someone take the SAT for his two sons. As another indication of the collateral consequences of felony convictions, his career is shredded, he probably won’t work again in his industry of venture capitalism, he has lost his awards for athletic achievements and charitable work, and had his name stripped from an athletic field. He was ordered to report to prison on 9/23/20.

10/31/20 status – register number 25452-111, age 61, confined at SeaTac Federal Detention Center in Seattle Washington, released date 12/17/20.

 

#17 – 5/19/20 – Xiaoning Sui – Time served, which is about five months and $250,000 fine.  No community service or supervised release. My recollection is she had to be extradited from Spain and was held in custody pending disposition of her case.  She paid $400,000 to have her son admitted to UCLA as a soccer player even though the son did not play.

 

#16 – 3/31/20 – Elizabeth Henriquez – Seven months in prison, $200,000 fine, 2 years supervised release, and 300 hours community service. She and her husband paid $50K to cheat on testing, twice for one daughter and thrice for their other daughter. They also paid $400k to a Georgetown tennis coach to get their older daughter into the school.  Judge ordered delayed reporting to  prison until June 30 due to coronavirus pandemic and indicated he would entertain a motion for further delay of confinement if the  pandemic is not resolved.

10/31/20 status – register number 86706-054, age 57, confined at Dublin Federal Correctional Institution in Alameda County California, expected release date 1/27/21

 

#15 – 2/26/20 – Michelle Janavs – Five months in prison, $250,000 fine, and two years supervised release. She paid $100K to fix ACT answers for two children, $50K to a USC coach, and was arrested before paying a remaining balance of $150K. Prosecutors requested 21 months.

She is heiress of the fortune generated by the Hot Pockets product and receives $100,000 a month from the family trust. The judge was going to sentence her to 12 months but gave her a 7 month discount because she gave away so much of the money her father earned.

10/31/20 status – inmate register number 77816-112. Age 50, under supervision of Long Beach Residential Reentry Management (RRM) field office in San Pedro, California, release date 11/16/20. BOP website reports the RRM field offices are supervising 15,073 federal offenders, of whom 8,000 are in home confinement, 6,313 are in residential reentry centers, and 652 are in short-term jail. BOP does not specify whether she is in home confinement or at a residential reentry center.

 

#14 – 2/7/20 – Douglas Hodge – Nine months in prison, $750,000 fine. 500 hours of community service. Paid $850,000 to get four of his seven children into college. Two went to Georgetown as fake tennis players, two to USC, one as pretend soccer player and another as fake football player. He was working to get a fifth child into Loyola Marymount for which the feds claim he offered to pay $200K for admission to the school, which claim Mr. Hodge denied. Has been buying his kids way into college since 2008.

2/26/20 – Not yet listed at Bureau of Prison’s website.

10/31/20 status – register number 10457-138, age 63, confined at Otisville FCI in Orange County, New York, release date 3/21/21, which implies he reported to prison on or about 6/21/20.

 

#13 – 11/14/19 – Toby MacFarlane – Six months in prison, $150,000 fine, 200 hours community service, and two years supervised release. He paid $450K to get a son and daughter into USC claiming them to be athletes. 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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 74173-298. Confined at Tucson US Penitentiary, which is a high security prison with adjacent minimum security satellite camp. I’ll guess he is in the minimum security area.  Expected release date 6/30/20.

4/21/20 – Released early due to risks from coronavirus.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 01694-138, confined at Mendota FCI, medium security FCI with adjacent minimum security satellite camp, with expected release date 3/1/20, so I’ll guess he will be out 2/28/20.

10/31/20 status – released on 2/28/20.

 

#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 plea deal sentenced by Judge Talwani.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 77810-112, released on 11/27/19.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 77805-112, age 52, released on 12/23/19.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 25454-11, released on 12/20/19.

 

#8 – 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.

2/26/20 status – with only probation, he is not listed at the Bureau of Prisons website.

 

#6 and  #7 – 10/8/19 – 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.

2/26/20 status – Husband – inmate 86702-054, released on 1/28/20; Wife – inmate 45201-013, released on 12/6/19. Their sentences did not overlap.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 25453-111, confined at Atwater USP, high security penitentiary with adjacent minimum security satellite camp, with expected release date of 4/2/20.

10/31/20 status – age 54, released on 3/17/20

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 86703-054, released on 11/22/19.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 77828-112, confined at Lompoc USP,  medium security penitentiary with adjacent minimum security satellite camp, with expected release date 3/4/20.

10/31/20 status – age 54, released on 3/4/20.

 

#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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 778150-112, confined at Lompoc USP,  medium security penitentiary with adjacent minimum security satellite camp, with expected release date 4/1/20.

10/31/20 status – age 54, released on 4/1/20.

 

Parent #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.

2/26/20 status – Inmate 778060112, released on 10/25/19.