Vancouver mother linked to U.S. college admission scandal
Credit to Author: Scott Brown| Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2019 16:22:03 +0000
A Vancouver mom is the latest parent linked to the U.S. college admission scandal.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that a B.C. teen was admitted to UCLA last fall after being awarded a soccer scholarship at the school, but court documents have revealed the teen didn’t play soccer and his admission was actually bought with a US$100,000 bribe William “Rick ” Singer paid to Jorge Salcedo, then the head coach of the UCLA men’s soccer program.
Singer, a Newport Beach college consultant who has been called the mastermind of the admission scam, pleaded guilty in June to charges of racketeering, money laundering, fraud and obstruction.
The transaction was included in an indictment charging Salcedo with racketeering conspiracy.
The indictment didn’t name the teen or his family, but the Los Angeles Times said people familiar with the case identified the mother as a Vancouver woman.
“(The mother) agreed to pay Singer US$400,000 for help getting her son into UCLA, and she paid a deposit toward the agreed-upon sum in October 2018, a person familiar with the case said. The amount of the deposit, and whether (the mother) eventually paid the balance, isn’t known,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
The woman has not been charged with a crime and the allegations have not been proven in court.
Salcedo has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges.
In March, Vancouver businessman and former CFL player David Sidoo was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the far-reaching FBI investigation into the criminal conspiracy that sought to help privileged kids with middling grades gain admission to elite U.S. universities.
Sidoo is accused of making two separate US$100,000 payments to have others take college entrance exams in place of his two sons.