College admissions scandal mastermind Rick Singer sentenced to 3.5 years in prison

The mastermind of the college admissions scandal has been sentence to three and a half years in prison.

Rick Singer, 62, received the longest sentence yet handed down in the nationwide bribery scheme that exposed how celebrities and prominent businesspeople used their wealth to buy their childrens’ entrance into top universities.

Among the dozens of defendants to serve time in the plot were Desperate Housewives actor Felicity Huffman, Full House star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli.

Singer pled guilty in March 2019 to money laundering and racketeering conspiracy on the day that a secret FBI operation code named Operation Varsity Blues was made public.

He had been secretly working with investigators since 2018 and recorded hundreds of meetings and phone calls that helped build the case, according to the Associated Press.

Singer had for years bribed exam administrators and athletic coaches from prestigious colleges such as Yale, Stanford, and Georgetown University in return for helping applicants cheat on their college entrance exams or falsely designate them as potential sporting recruits.

“It was a scheme that was breathtaking in its scale and its audacity,” Assistant US Attorney Stephen Frank told a federal district court judge in Boston, Massachusetts, on Wednesday, the AP reported. “It has literally become the stuff of books and made-for-TV movies.”

Singer funnelled the bribes through a bogus charity, allowing parents to write off the transfers as charitable donations, according to FBI charging documents.

He received more than $25m from the scheme, paying out $7m in bribes, and kept more than $15m for himself, prosecutors said.

“This defendant was responsible for the most massive fraud ever perpetuated on the higher education system in the United States,” Mr Frank said during Wednesday’s sentencing.

Addressing the court, Singer apologised to his family and the schools he had embarrassed.

“My moral compass was warped by the lessons my father taught me about competition. I embraced his belief that embellishing or even lying to win was acceptable as long as there was victory. I should have known better,” he said.

Almost all of the parents, coaches and administrators charged in the conspiracy pled guilty and served sentences ranging from a few weeks to 2 and a half years in the case of former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst.

Huffman spent two weeks in jail in 2019 after admitting one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Loughlin served half of a two-month sentence also related to the college admissions scandal. The former Full House star pleaded guilty in to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in 2019.