Vancouver mom strikes plea deal in U.S. college admissions scandal: report
Credit to Author: David Carrigg| Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2020 02:05:30 +0000
A Vancouver woman detained in Spain on charges of securing her son’s admission to UCLA though bribery has stuck a plea deal, according to the L.A. Times.
The report states that prosecutors and lawyers for Xiaoning Sui have proposed that she will spend no time in jail once she is extradited to the United States. This is based on court records and her attorney.
Under the plea deal filed in Federal Court, 48-year-old Sui will plead guilty to a one count of federal program bribery. Sui was arrested by Spanish authorities in September, 2019, and remains in detention. A judge still has to accept the joint proposal for no additional jail time for Sui.
Sui is one of several people arrested in the U.S. college bribery scandal, including Vancouver businessman David Sidoo.
In 2008, Sui allegedly paid the first instalment of what would later total US$400,000 to William (Rick) Singer, a Newport Beach, Calif., college consultant, who then paid a bribe to Jorge Salcedo, head of the UCLA men’s soccer program.
Singer is a California-based college admissions consultant who has admitted to operating a multimillion-dollar college admissions fraud that allegedly allowed wealthy parents to bribe their children’s way into prestigious schools.
In the Sui case, a fraudulent profile using photos of Sui’s son was allegedly created and suggested Sui’s son had played for two top private soccer clubs in Canada, despite not being a soccer player. Sui’s son was admitted to UCLA as a soccer recruit and he was offered a scholarship.
The money allegedly paid by Sui was deposited into a Massachusetts bank account linked to a charitable foundation headed by Singer.
Vancouver businessman and former CFL player David Sidoo was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection, but he has pleaded not guilty. Sidoo is accused of making two separate US$100,000 payments to have others take college entrance exams in place of his two sons.
Of the 19 defendants charged in this case, four have pleaded guilty and 15 remain pending trial.
Sidoo’s case is set for trial in the spring of 2021.