The FBI came out with more than 50 indictments just a few hours ago, and the press conference just ended. The FBI investigation is called Operation Varsity Blues, and it tracked wealthy parents’ attempts (successful attempts) to bribe college officials through a third-party, all to get their kids into college. Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were indicted in connected schemes:
Actress Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among dozens charged in a nationwide college entrance exam scandal, according to court documents filed in Boston on Tuesday. Several NCAA D-1 college coaches have also been charged in the scandal. Documents show those indicted allegedly paid millions in bribes to get their children into elite colleges. Those colleges include Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California.
Loughlin and husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 to USC in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the college’s crew team — even though they did not participate in crew — thereby guaranteeing their admission in the college, according to documents.
Huffman and her spouse, William H. Macy, are accused of disguising a $15,000 charitable payment in the bribery scheme. According to charging documents, a confidential witness met with Huffman at her home and explained that he “controlled” a SAT testing center and could arrange for someone to proctor the taking of the test and then correct her answers afterward. Huffman is said to have later exchanged emails with this individual in an effort to get 100 percent extra time for her daughter and to facilitate the taking of the SATs away from her school.
Huffman’s daughter is said to have taken the test in Dec. 2017 and received a 1420 on the test, a 400 point improvement from a previous test. Last October, Huffman discussed repeating this for her youngest daughter in a taped conversation that evidently the FBI has obtained. However, Huffman did not go through with the cheating for her youngest daughter, according to court papers.
I’m not going to go on and on about it, but this is disgusting on so many levels. It’s disgusting because with all of that wealth and access, these parents still were looking for ways to game the system. That’s what their spoiled kids will learn too – they’ll learn that mommy and daddy can buy them even more access and they don’t have to lift a f–king finger. All that being said – and I’m appalled, I really am – the NCAA is one of the most disgusting systems around. They’re a multi-billion dollar corporation built on slave labor and corruption. Of course this kind of thing happened, because it’s been happening around NCAA college athletes/admissions for decades.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This is…just the last headline I expected to see. WTAF??
Um, yeah, +1 on WTAF?
+2. I had to reread it just to make sure I was reading it right! That’s insane, not to mention incredibly disappointing.
As a Chicagoan, I was so proud of Northwestern University’s football players attempt to unionize. Students have become monetized in a places that are meant to instill integrity, values…
It grates me the way schools are creating ‘party school’ environments to entice students.
College athletics are out of control. I went to a Big 10 school and the highest paid person on campus was the football coach by a triple digit percentage.
Mac, totally agree. And if you look at the highest paid public official in every state, it’s almost always the football or basketball coach for the state university. This case is also more proof that the true problem with college admissions isn’t making sure that the student population is diverse and representative (which is what all the conservative snowflakes whine about) but that rich people’s kids get too many advantages (legal and illegal) when applying to colleges.
Here’s a breakdown of the states with the high college coach pay: http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/22454170/highest-paid-state-employees-include-ncaa-coaches-nick-saban-john-calipari-dabo-swinney-bill-self-bob-huggins
And one of the biggest issues as folks are mentioning is with the virtual enslavement of Black student athletes without any compensation or pay. It’s a racket and these kids put their lives on the line for their education and a possible change at the big leagues while making the schools beyond rich smdh
Yep UT’s coach $5m a year
IKR? Pretty embarrassing.
I actually thought it was a plot from a movie because it was reported by TV Line.
The WTFery got even more out of control when I read that Lori Loughlin paid $500,000… where did she get that kind of money to spend on a bribe? I would not have thought those Full House residuals or the Fuller House (is she on that?) paychecks would cover that. Is her husband wealthy?? I know so little about her.
This is just absolutely mind blowing from two women who have cultivated the nicest women in Hollywood vibe.
Her husband is a fashion designer.
Her husband is the founder of the Mossimo clothing brand.
I don’t know anything about her husband, but she’s on Fuller House and Full House is on in syndication and has been for a very long time, so she’s probably doing okay.
Lori has been a working actress since her Edge if Night soap days in the early 80s. If she’s been smart with her money then she wouldn’t need her husband’s.
Lori was also a teen model. I remember her from major retailer catalogs in the late 1970s/early 1980s. She has worked in modeling and then acting for at least 40 years.
She’s also made millions flipping houses.
She’s also on a Hallmark show called When the Heart Calls or something
She might be good with money but how dumb is her kid that they needed to pay $500,000 to get her into a school?
Also- how does one excel in school when one’s parents have purchased their admission and position? Would her parents just continue to purchase her grades and then also purchase her a career afterward, too?
@Yup, Me – i agree with your statement: “Also- how does one excel in school when one’s parents have purchased their admission and position? Would her parents just continue to purchase her grades and then also purchase her a career afterward, too?”
But I got two words for you: TRUMP/KUSHNER.
Her daughter Olivia admitted in her own youtube videos that she skips classes and was genuinely shocked she got to graduate. I doubt she is oblivious about what was going on. She knew exactly how she got into USC.
Also it’s a waste of money because kids like hers don’t need to have an Ivy League or status degree to get ahead. They can do it on their parents’ connections and/or money. So I guess this is just to pad the parents’ egos – to be able to say their kid is at USC or whatever. Kid never uses the degree and doesn’t need the career boost but mommy and daddy want the deflected “glory”. I can’t think of any othwr reason. What is weird to me is that someone like Lori Loughlin seems to have been working and hustling in the acting world since she was a kid. She worked her way up by being professional but she wants to teach her kids to get by on scamming and cheating?
Yeah, “disgusting“ is a pretty mild description for this. Talk about entitlement. These two…off my Christmas card list.
Yeah. What a weirdly random nut job thing to pop up.
Enjoy your entitlement.
Don’t you folks realize being stupid AF is the way to go nowadays?? You could have had your kids be president.
Instead, now, they will always be under a Google search that make them look like assholes.
Actually, never mind; they can STILL be president.
Fukk I could easily have left go off Full house re-runs but I really did like Shameless…aptly named
“ All that being said – and I’m appalled, I really am – the NCAA is one of the most disgusting systems around. They’re a multi-billion dollar corporation built on slave labor and corruption.” This should be in CAPS!
I honestly feel that was about all sports. I can’t believe the money and corruption that goes into it all. It should be going to medical research, environmental change, the effing poor refugees all over this world. Humans are vile. Not all, but unfortunately many..
This better be as scandalous, if not more than the Jussie Smollett incident.
@Tifzlan I will bet you right now that neither one of these white ladies does a minute of jail time and Jussie will get the book thrown at him.
Supposedly both actresses are in jail right now, exactly were they belong. TMZ has some good info.
@ Ashby
What about their husbands?
I don’t know, if their husbands were also involved also, if they were, they should be indicted too.
From what I’ve read, but husbands were involved, but it’s the wives’ names on the e-mails, but I bet the husbands will be indicted soon.
@Lorelei – Welcome to the black experience. You do know that this has been happening for centuries?
I don’t think they have any proof on the husbands. Checks, emails and recorded calls were made by the women. So yeah there’s proof.
Macy wasn’t named in the indictment. Perhaps he’s cooperating?
Why do you assume that?
You realize Jussie has a VERY highly paid attorney, right?
According to what has been reported, they not only paid bribes to get their children into certain schools. They then routed those bribes through a fake charity and deducted them from their taxes as donations. If true, that’s tax fraud.
Wow, they’re actually in jail? Won’t stick. You can bet on it. As with white folks throughout the history of this country, and as @Lorelei says, Jussie will have the book thrown at him. Wow. WWW (Watch Whiteness Work)
@ Ashby : I used to practice criminal law and I think that if they are in jail, they are only there to be processed (finger prints, photos) before being released after promising to appear at their next court date. This is the usual process for someone with no criminal record. I would be surprised if they stayed overnight although it is possible if they were brought in late at night.
I heard Huffman’s husband wasn’t indicted because they didn’t have any proof of him in the incident. They did for their second daughter when they discussed it, but they didn’t go through with those plans.
Holy sh*t ! This is so gross. This is why I’m not impressed when I hear about rich celebs and their kids going to Ivy League Schools. So many pay their way in. I had the grades to go to any school but it just didn’t see worth all the money. I’m disgusted by this story…though not really surprised. When does actual hard work pay off? When does being moral pay off? Seems like those that do the opposite get the rewards. About time things change.
Holy sh*t is my response , too. I just can’t believe this goes on with SAT scores. It blows my mind. I always figured that rich parents made a donation to the uni and their kids were accepted that way. I can’t believe there is actual tampering with scores. The part about colleges sports and coaches being dirty is something I’ve always believed.
There are all these new fangled self help mentors that “guarantee” your child will get into their school of choice. I actually think it’s a bunch of mularky. Parents why do you need to pay someone to give you the same advice that you can read or a school counselor can provide for free?
Exactly, I thought of course they give huge donations and the kids get in, but this is way beyond that. Incredible!
Remember when a black student in FL increased her SAT score 300 points and she was accused of cheating?
I also thought it was just a straightforward donation and hush hush you’re in. I guess it’s more complicated than that, even for fraudsters.
I used to tutor kids in Reading, Writing and the English portion of the ACT/SATs. Never did I ever guarantee a parent a 400 point jump in scores. Never. Maybe a hundred point jump if the kid worked their butts off. I say throw the book at them.
My kids aren’t in high school yet, but a friend of mine with two in high school highly recommended going with a private guidance counselor if we wanted our kids to go to competitive colleges. She said to expect to pay at least $4,000 per kid. (I’m 99% sure that she isn’t part of this scam!) The reason she recommended this is because our zoned high school (which is in the top 5 of my state) is HUGE. Even with requesting extra meetings and having very involved kids, she says the school guidance counselor doesn’t know either of her kids names and spends an average of 30 minutes a year with each kid. None of the schools my friend’s senior applied to are on this list, but one of the colleges in my city are!
Ready to go back to elementary school drama (which is currently that the school has banned group treats in the cafeteria. And it has caused serious DRAMA).
Deadnotsleeping, I just went through college admissions with both my kids, two years in a row. It doesn’t have to involve drama unless your kids have their hearts set on Ivy League schools. My kids had decent grades on the regular track — they didn’t even take AP classes, were involved in extracurriculars but not excessively (band and athletics were their main activities) and they each got into numerous very good universities. No consultants to help with essays, they did it all themselves. They are fine and most importantly they weren’t out of their minds with stress over it all.
Esmom, that is good to know. I know people with 12 year olds who are picking their extracurruliculars (like volunteering at the human society on a weekly basis with their parent) now with an eye to what will look good on their college applications. It’s hard not to get caught up in the craziness.
Another factor to consider, at least for public universities, is where you live. The majority of Midwestern public universities could fill most of what they take from instate admissions from a handful of counties in each state. For example, in Illinois, that would be Chicago and its suburbs plus the major cities outside of Chicago. That excludes most of the state. I’m sure that one reason that I got accepted before the end of my 1st semester senior year to the Big 10 school I went to was because I went to a smaller, rural high school.
One of my cousins and her husband are not likely to stay in their current home and probably will move by the time their kid is in elementary school. It’s a combination of wanting to be closer to his family and getting into a better school district. The kid’s a toddler, but they are thinking about getting into a smaller district where she’ll have a better chance at getting into the flagship public school.
Deadnotsleeping, the main thing I’ve learned these past couple years is that grades and test scores matter far more than any of that other stuff. (Hence the SAT fraud, I guess.) Do yourself and your kids a favor and spend the majority of your time enjoying life instead of stressing about college. It will come together. And as Frank Bruni’s book title says, “Where you go is not who you’ll be.”
My younger nephew, w/ a 34 (out of 36 on the A.C.T.), ALL AP classes in HS (4.95 GPA), capt. of football team for 2 yrs, and tons of extra curricular activities couldn’t get into Berkley, USC, Penn (Wharton). Apparently his spot was “bought” by “someone’s “ parent.
That is so unfair. So the future CEO’S of big company’s will be run by morons who skated through college because they had rich parents. Nice.
Worse would be the Doctors that buy their way
How do you know it was “bought”? Your nephew sounds like a very accomplished young man, but there are thousands and thousands of accomplished people out there. And none of them are entitled to go a particular school. I wish people would stop putting these schools on a pedestal and then feel entitled and bitter when they don’t get in. Despite credentials very like your nephew’s, I went to my state flagship R1. I then got a master’s at another state flagship R1. I currently work at another state public university while pursuing another master’s at that same institution. Every one of these universities are outstanding schools. I work alongside some of the most amazing researchers and faculty every day. Berkeley, the Ivies, Penn, etc are not the only good schools out there! Maybe appreciate that your nephew has the opportunity to learn at all and realize that he is not entitled to go to some supposedly “prestigious” school. My older sister went to all state schools too (even for her MBA), she’s literally a genius and is on track to be CEO by 40 yr old (makes a lot of $$). There are other amazing schools out there and for far less in tuition & fees!! Appreciate your state institutions people!!
And how do these elite schools maintain their status if they keep letting stupid people in who had to bribe their way in? Doesn’t do much for their reputation when your student pool is diluted with dummies?
Easy. Grade inflation.
These elite universities recruit creme de la creme of foreign students who are chosen to excel and provide stats for high end job placement. Read. Rich dumb American kids are eye candy that butter the bread.
I suspect that the kids of celebs are the least of our worries — it’s the kids of the highly connected politicians and industrialists who get in from “alumni donations” that are the real problem. They’ve created a royalty-like succession to the best universities in the nation. No one really believes that those kids get in on their own merits, do they?
Well, this is disappointing coming from these two. I wouldn’t be shocked with almost anyone else, but Lori especially, wow.
Yeah, it’s the people who are involved that shocks me! The scandal itself isn’t shocking but the participants are.
I’m not shocked about Lori at all after viewing her families social media. Her daughters both come across as vain, vapid, spoiled brats. She and her husband sent photos of the girls on rowing machines as part of the Crew team scam so the girls both clearly knew what was going on. Her daughter Olivia posted videos saying that the only thing she was looking forward to at college was partying and tailgating. People came down hard on her then about how ungrateful she was to be getting a good education. She went on vacation about a week into the Fall semester. Her daughter Isabella can’t act her way out of a wet paper bag, yet has gotten roles in Hallmark movies with her Mother and also got into USC fraudulently. They both ooze entitlement. Taking a place from someone who actually deserved the spot would mean nothing to girls like them.
why not just do what Jared Kushner’s dad did an just make a huge donation bribe to get them admitted. Why does saying you do crew guarantee admission?
@pottymouth IKR. The fact that legitimate student athletes didn’t get in so that these two entitled twits could, is infuriating. At least everyone knows what the donation means about his enrolment. They tried to pretend theirs was legit.
portsmouth pup, Saying you do crew does not guarantee admission. They bribed a coach to SAY they were crew recruits. Unf^&*ingbelievable. The girls apparently don’t even row, although this is the first I’ve heard of photos of them on rowing machines, lol.
I hate that I know this but the vacation Olivia Jade took a week into the new school year was a trip to Fiji sponsored by an online clothing app. I viewed a few of her videos last year before I knew she was Lori Loughlin’s daughter and it was evident that having the “college experience” was part of her brand to diversify her content beyond makeup and fashion. Despite the scandal, I doubt she would’ve lasted more than a year or two at USC before dropping out to manage her channel full time or pursue other opportunities afforded to her. Meanwhile, her channel is still up and running despite clips of her discussing her displeasure for school that have gone viral.
I’m sure this happens WAY more often than we hear about. Super-disgusting.
I remember a story I read a few years ago, I think it was either The Times or the New Yorker, where they interviewed tutors and other people whose job solely was to get the kids into the Ivy’s by any means necessary.
One of the tutors was making extra money on the side, like for example, writing their college entry essay, and he was able to make a down payment on his brownstone in New York.
He said the upside is he does not have to deal with them once they are accepted, the downside is 95% of his clients flunked out their freshman year.
Thanks for this! I was wondering how they actually do once they start college. What is the f-ing point of forcing your child into a certain college for them to most likely flunk out? I can think of an infinity number of other ways to encourage growth and independence.
I personally know someone whose job as a tutor for these exclusive high schools in nyc is doing the same thing. It’s wide spread and not surprising at all.
@milkweed. It is amazing how they can ride that, ‘Oh, my kid got into….’ for the day is long.
Optics and image, that is what is important.
@ Tiffany-I’m pretty sure that you can go online now and find sites where you can hire someone to write your essay. I’m not sure how regulated it is…like, I don’t know if they would write an essay for college admission or not, but if you Google, a bunch of sites come up offering to write essays for a fee. That seems incredibly unfair and insane to me but maybe it’s accepted?
Any college C/Bers care to educate an old fart like myself on the legality of these sites?
@tiffany – the fact they flunk out is hilarious!!! I can’t with these (fill in the blank) 🙄
I believe that there’s similar cheating going on to get children into the top primary and secondary private schools in NYC and then to keep them there.
Yep, as a college professor, this kind of thing is known to be fairly wide-spread (esp the paper mills where you can buy papers written for you — sometimes specifically to the assignment. That’s much harder to catch than straight up plagiarism, but there’s not much we can do about it).
@Kitten I don’t know about legal, but I do know that if you’re caught handing in one of these prepared papers at my school it’s a violation of the honor policy which usually leads to expulsion. Same goes for sites like Study Soup and others where you can sell your notes you take in classes.
I knew someone whose husband owned a tutoring company – supposedly to help specifically with SAT prep and such, but I’m sure geared towards Ivy acceptance – and they owned a rather large TH in NYC, took expensive vacations, drove nice cars (not Ferrari level, but still nice), etc. I knew her husband had a successful business, but I was surprised when I found out what he actually did – and that he was apparently making a killing.
There is so much fault on the part of the school administrators who turn a blind eye to this, there has to be. Most admin are educators themselves, often faculty as well, so they have to know that cheating and bribery are happening, don’t they? I remember in a class years ago, a student hired someone to write his final paper and I credit my Ancestors for always looking out for me with that kind of nonsense because the person he hired just copied and pasted one of the key essays on the subject from a major author. So the trifling student was not only out his money for nothing but got caught easily. Ha! I rarely have this problem with students (in almost two decades only twice and I do check these things regularly plus have a system that empowers them with writing rather than resorting to cheating. Just saying…)
Tiffany my thoughts were also if you can’t get in by getting a good score on the ACT or SAT then you will never make it at that college.
@Anna having worked in higher education for 6 years (I no longer do), I can tell you that unfortunately, the faculty’s hands are tied a lot of the time. I worked with several professors who caught students cheating or handing in plagiarized papers, and they are not even allowed to fail them on the spot. Instead, it all has to go through the chain of command (Chairperson, Dean of that college, etc.). This often results in little to no consequences for the students 🙁
@Milkweed.My BF’s father was a professor at Harvard, and he told us that “at Harvard they don’t let kids flunk out.” They will really work with students who are having issues because it looks bad to have a lower rate of students finishing. (And then that makes them less competitive to the types of students they want, which are…idiots whose parents pay for them to get in? Honestly, higher education is such a circle jerk.) So my guess would be that in actuality not that many kids actually flunk out. Plus, I mean, who knows how common this is, if your classmates are all rich morons too how hard can it be?
@Milkweed — When I was in high school ten years ago, I heard constantly that the hardest part of Harvard was getting admitted. The actual academics and classes are a piece of cake. Hell, my mom– who graduated high school in 1969– said that she’s heard the same thing for years and years and years. I’m sure it has to do with what @Lula says– the optics of having a low rate of graduating students look really bad.
Becks1, Owning a tutoring company IS lucrative even if you don’t take bribes. It’s insane how much test prep companies charge, and that’s with no guarantees of improvement in scores or acceptance anywhere. I paid a small fortune for my kids to take SAT/ACT test prep. Which I was reluctant to do but I felt like if everyone else was doing the prep I should at least let my kids have that “edge” if you can call it that. They said they did find the tips on test taking strategies to be helpful.
Side note: I just found out the owner of the test prep company is a Trumpster right wing conspiracy nut who believes the Hillary Pizzagate stuff. He went on a rant on social media, and I was horrified that I had given him our hard earned money. People seem to be boycotting his place, so there’s a silver lining, at least for now.
M, I’m not sure how difficult Harvard is but my kids have friends at other “elite” schools like Northwestern and Vanderbilt and those schools are not a walk in the park. In fact it’s been a hard adjustment after being the smartest kids in high school to suddenly struggle to get Cs.
Kitten, There are sites where you can buy various papers, although I think supposedly there are some computer programs which can compare against other essays out there to pick up on plagiarism. I read student papers regularly and you can often tell when someone’s writing is flying way over their true intellect. It just takes work to monitor for it and to prove it, and worse, and to deal with the drama when you have to nail someone for it.
this is so the tip of the iceberg
I concur. I feel sorry for the kids. The FBI, yikes. I would be terrified. Not good, not good.
I don’t feel sorry for these “kids”—they aren’t going to jail.
I do feel sorry for the “kids” that work hard and apply to colleges honestly and with integrity, and lose out on spots to rich twits.
I agree with tourmaline. I don’t feel sorry for their kids. They’ve grown up in privilege. This is just another layer to that privilege. Which they’ll continue to enjoy.
Exactly @Tourmaline
Yes, it is super disgusting. Takes helicopter parenting to a whole new level.
This is very common actually, more so than people think, I graduated high school in 2003, there were a lot of affluent kids in my school whose parents made “ donations” to get them into universities or even just out of trouble while in school. Unless they continue with this investigation and more and more names come out or it becomes the “big” news it should, then it sounds more like a cover up of a much bigger situation.
My boss did this for his son and his daughter. His son flunked out of the Ivy anyway and ended up at BU, his dad’s alma mater.
But here is where I see the difference: a donation to a school’s endowment or the money to build a building, etc. is money that will benefit all the students on the campus, not just the one that got in because of it. What is going on here is the money is a bribe that benefits only the ONE student, does not go to the university, etc. I think it’s ridiculous that people can donate their child’s way into an elite school but at least the money is being put to somewhat good use and helps other students. I am sure that is the logic the universities use to help them sleep at night.
Oh it does. I went to a college that is nationally known and has a nationally recognized athletic program. I remember a story in the newspaper a few years back where the admissions department would get all kinds of “gifts” sent to them hoping it would help their kid get into the college.
I bet that’s how Don the Con and W Bush got into colleges. 45 is deadly afraid for anyone to see his SAT or College entrance score and grades. This has been going on for donkey years, meaning forever.
Don’t forget their evil spawn too. Someone should ask Tiffany what her LSAT score is.
Poor W. Bush. His parents allowed him to go through life thinking that he is smart so he is too stupid to realize that he is stupid. He couldn’t get into U of Texas but sailed into Yale. Please.
Ironically, by most accounts I’ve read, Tiffany seems to be excelling on her own merits. She may be the only person in her family who actually works hard at something. Being the least favored child might be the best thing that ever happened to her.
I don’t like Howard Stern much, but this IS one of my favorite videos! Enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPd0T7sExTw
@ Tabitha Stevens
First, love the name (I am a child of the ’60’s)
Second, I think “W” was rejected from law schools in Texas. Hilarious as that was his family’s power base but it STILL couldn’t get him into a law school there.
yep – just wait until all these kids get primo jobs in upper management the year they graduate anyhow…
Nah, mommy and daddy have jobs in their own firms waiting for them-
I’m surprised that more people are shocked that this happens. I thought everyone knew. We used to joke about this at my high school. Even people who are super qualified are often passed over, and yet coke nosed sons of senators show up at these schools all the time.
This is how both Kushner boys got into Harvard. What astounds me that for a half million your target school was USC. At least go for an Ivy for that kind of cash. You would have slipped right through the corrupt cracks.
The part about using an ADD/ADHD diagnosis to get more time for the SAT/ACT tests doesn’t shock me. I graduated high school in the early 2000s and that was common then. It happened at my high school and even then, it was met with some degree of mockery. The ones who really abused it had parents who doctor shopped until they got the ADHD diagnosis and medication for the kids.
I have undiagnosed ADHD, because my mother was very skeptical about medicating kids and thought that it was a catch-all for teachers with students that required more engagement than they were willing to give. Needless to say, she had more than a few choice words aimed at some family that doctor shopped for ADHD diagnosis for their kids. She was surprised at how easy it was for them because she thought that it had become more difficult to do that, because of how habit forming the drugs are, especially for kids and teens whose brains are still developing. I do feel for one who likely has some mild form of ADHD and is on multiple drugs for it once she’s off her parents’ health insurance in a couple years. She’s going to have to develop some coping measures at the very least to offset the effects of the drugs.
Kelly, I agree that there are parents who actively seek to misuse accommodations created for students who have ADHD. But some of your points here are wrong and reflect a misunderstanding of ADHD. As a therapist and a parent of children with ADHD, these drugs are not habit forming for them and do not damage their brains if they take them. For a person with ADHD, which is a chemical processing difference in the brain, taking the meds helps them function normally. Our ADHD specialist tells us that having put our children on medication early allowed them to be successful in the classroom and prevent problems with self-esteem and motivation, plus the medication can actually alter the pathways in their brains to a more normal way of functioning, allowing them to NOT have to take medication later in life. I have seen it with my oldest – as he is getting older, his dose is decreasing. “Mild” or moderate or severe, the medication HELPS these children and to paint it as dangerous or otherwise is not accurate and furthers the stigma of this condition. I feel badly for children whose parents fall prey to this misguided thinking and do not get their children help when they suspect ADHD. Those kids go on to struggle, have problems with self esteem, depression, anxiety and are more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol as teens.
hnmmom, Yes to everything you said. I’m glad your kiddo is doing so well.
And it isn’t all that easy to get accommodations like extended time on the ACT or SAT. It requires a lot of documentation (proof that the student has needed similar accommodations all through high school) and work by the high school guidance counselors to secure that. I guess those people are not immune to corruption, but at my kids’ school it would be really hard to do.
My son has been diagnosed with ADHD and gets more time on his tests, including his SATs. He’s not medicated – the two don’t have to go hand in hand. The difference in his PSAT scores between when he was timed vs not timed was over 200 points.
As for the rest of this absolute nonsense – at some point, these kids will reach their level of incompetence. I have been managing teams for over 20 years and the Ivy graduates aren’t typically all that impressive, whereas my public school/university employees tend to do quite well. The business world *typically* rewards talent, not nepotism.
The more time for test is actually really hard to get. The College Board requires a lot of documentation to grant this. My daughter seemed to really suffer from test anxiety and sometimes would freeze and complete only half the test. I talked to her school about getting more time, and they said we could try, but it was really hard to get. We gave up and she did fine, a bit less than she does if not timed, but not bad.
I’m going to make a bet this is how Felicity gets out of this. She’s going to say that was all she was doing, and honestly $15,000 for getting the paperwork ready for the extra time doesn’t really seem like that much money, especially for wealthy people.
Now the $500,000 to get you as an athlete commit seems crazy. They should have just bought a building and insisted they go there. That would have been legal.
I’m probably more lenient on the ghostwriting than I am on the admissions, honestly. With the cost of college, I can see why people would get desperate enough to pay for essays to pass a class. It’s an expulsion if you get caught everywhere I’ve attended (and I have two Bachelors), but I get how it happens.
But this is just flat out privilege all around. And it’s gross because it just exhibits the mass sense of entitlement the wealthy have toward everything*
*No joke, as I responded to this in the back of a Lyft on a way home from a business trip, the driver and I watched some jackass in a Lexus cut down two lanes of traffic by tailing an AMBULANCE trying to get through, nearly causing multiple accidents. Rich people are trash.
It *could* be that the people in the Lexus’ love one was IN the ambulance. Most times, there’s not room in the ambulance for family, so you have to “follow”. In most cases, I wouldn’t give a benefit of the doubt, but here, maybe? We wouldn’t know.
Of course, I’ve seen SO MANY people (in ALL kinds of cars) not move out of the way for fire trucks, police, ambulances… it just blows me away! I’ve seen cars cut in FRONT of one to make a left, or make it through the intersection. I wish there was a way for emergency vehicles to snap a pic of these a$$wipes and then send a MASSIVE fine/loss of license ticket!
I highly doubt it, but it wouldn’t matter if they were because it’s only legal to follow an ambulance with respect to vehicular law. The respect given to emergency vehicles does not extend to family behind them. And they do that for exactly the reason you mention here – it’s hard enough to get an ambulance through, another car doing the same is just begging an accident.
Well, at least they didn’t get in through affirmative action, because that would be totally unfair. (sarcasm mode: OFF)
But…but…I was told if I *just* close my eyes and pull up on my boostraps REALLY, REAAAAAALLLY HARD…! Cuz Affirmative Action and the like are CLEARLY the main culprits of the smallest percentage of “underserving” scholars making it in…and graduating…steeped in debt. 😏
They said that in most cases, the kids weren’t aware of what their parents were doing. And I’m still in shock. This is wild.
The ones who got extra time and a special location for the SAT had to know something was up.
You’d think they might have smelled a rat when they were welcomed as recruits for sports they never even played…
Maybe it was just a paperwork thing? Like on the books they were crew members but the coach who was in on it obviously didn’t invite them to practice. IDK – trying real hard to give benefit of the doubt to the kids here but the whole thing is f-ing ridiculous. If they really didn’t know their worlds are ROCKED right now.
Lori Loughlin’s daughters took photographs on rowing machines to scam their way onto the crew team. They knew and were in on it.
Well, the recruit thing was just to get them in a special admissions category where it would be much easier to get into the school.
It was not an actual commitment to play the sport at the school.
So, you bribe the coach to get you listed as a recruit, you are in the recruit pool of applicants which is a preferred pool for admissions, and then when you get in you just don’t commit to playing. Its not like an athletic scholarship where you have to actually go out for the team. Easy peasy.
Oh, please, please. How could a kid not know when they had 100% extra more time to finish the test compared to the other kids?????
And how in the world did a kid not wonder why they got into a good college as an athlete when they were not an athlete.
Must be great to be such a clueless kid.
THIS! For heavens sakes, the kids had to know something was going on unless they are TOTALLY braindead…
In Silicon Valley in mid 2000’s I felt like half the kids I knew were getting extra time to do their testing. It’s become a big scam in affluent neighborhoods. And this kind of stuff has been going on forever. Donate huge amounts to Stanford and get your kid in-we knew who kid who got into Cal on the “golf team” and then never played a day. Parents I’m sure gave a huge donation to the cal sports program.
The test time is allowed you apply for it, but the College Board is kind of stingy on giving it to people. It requires a boatload of paperwork.
I do not believe that their kids did not know they were accepted for the crew program at USC – when the university does not participate in crew.
I think the kids who don’t tow buy received a scholarship for crew might have known something was amiss
I can see these lazy, spoiled kids not knowing. They probably never saw how the sausage was made (their parents working and earning a living). I bet the details would have just bored them. They probably think everyone gets into the school of their choice…”to party and stuff”.
This is just one example why the children of the wealthy can never be called “self made”. I bet in a few years after their parents have used their connections to get them jobs these kids would be saying that they did it all on their own and never had any help.
On the other hand, one article I read it said that the children were unaware of their parents involvement and cheating on their behalf. It must be devastating to find out that you didn’t actually achieve what you thought you did.
Or perhaps the kids knew but the parents just want to protect them so they don’t get in trouble.
From the article “Loughlin and husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 to USC in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the college’s crew team — even though they did not participate in crew”
You’re telling me her daughters didn’t know? Maybe some of the other kids didn’t, but no way Lauri’s daughters didn’t know.
I’m wondering how are they going to correct this wrong. Some of the children are still in school and those out of college will there be a mark on their grades.
I cannot believe for a SECOND that they didn’t know.
On another note, Lori and her husband look like brother and sister.
Huffman talked about having someone else take her daughter’s SAT test. Not sure if that happened or not but people are saying the kid doesn’t know? I highly doubt it.
holly hobby, It’s possible Huffman’s kid didn’t know. The indictment outlined how while a person took their kid’s SAT, the kid him/herself also took it, not realizing the fraudulent one would be the one that counted. Also, one boy had been recruited as a track athlete and didn’t know until freshman orientation when a faculty member or someone said something to him and he was like “huh?” Some parents really didn’t want their kids to know the lengths they went to.
This is what I understand, Felicity’s daughter was given extra time and a special testing place to take the SAT. This is allowed by the College Board if you have a reason, and usually a ton of paperwork needs to be filled out or a big bribe apparently. Supposedly the proctor also altered her test at the insistence of the guy Felicity paid. Supposedly Felicity knew this, not sure her daughter knew though.
Now Louglin’s kids are a bit different, they paid $500K to have them put in the recruit category which means they are in the lower standards. The coach insisted on these girls, but it doesn’t mean they have to play after they get in.
Lori’s kids knew they dony row crew. Period
Bingo. They think the worked “hard” when they really know nothing of the sort and everyone knows it. Then these same kids are a bear to work with later in life since they are insecure because they’ll never be confident in their own skills an resent those who have them. To make it even worse, if they didn’t know and they thought they got in on their own merit, they must be so embarrassed now that everyone knows what went on. Gawd, what a mess.
Do what? Wow. Rich people make endowments to colleges which are essentially bribes to get their kids in. It shouldn’t be that surprising that rich actors do it too but it is.
Well this is certainly out of left field.
wow. my brother and I both went to these elite schools and they were full of princes and weird royalty and the kids of moguls. im sure this is just the tip of the iceberg and relatively low hanging fruit. I’d really love to see, for example, how the kingdom of saudi arabia plays this game, or a bezos or a powerful european dynasty. I went to school with saudi princes who simply paid others to write their papers and lounged around all day and clearly couldnt have made it in on their own merits.
somewhere, Fred Trump is laughing at them
This bums me out so much. I like Huffman and hate thinking that she did this. I did go to an ivy, and had an enormous advantage in getting there because my family was well off and could afford for me to have amazing opportunities to travel and learn as a kid, and I never had to work in high school so I could devote my time to studying.
But I also still worked really hard, grabbed every opportunity, and was incredibly grateful for the chance to learn and grow in a place like my university. It sucks to think that the super wealthy basically just buy their kids a seat. I mean. I know it goes on, but I met so many inspiring and brilliant normal kids at my university that I guess I just wanted to think that everyone got there on merit.
Most of them probably *did* get there on merit. One of the nasty things about this kind of cheating is that it retrospectively devalues the school for everyone else by introducing these kinds of doubts about who did and who didn’t get in on merit alone. (And when I say “merit,” I’m including things like coping with challenges like disabilities and socioeconomic disadvantages as things that should weigh in an applicant’s favor. Unlike, y’know, CHEATING.)
As someone who busted her ass to get the scores to go to an elite school, and was surrounded by people who did the same once I got there, I find this scandal utterly infuriating. There are so many applicants for every single one of those places, and these people were just buying them like 18th-birthday presents for their unqualified, ungrateful kids.
My FIL does interviews for his Ivy alma mater, the same one I spent lots of time at in college. I came away from my time convinced that they were some of the most intellectually uncurious people I’d ever met, though arrogant and guaranteed to fail upward. My FIL is continually on the brink of quitting the interviews: he says the rich kids all have the perfect resumes, crammed to the brink, and are entirely cookie-cutter and superficial. Meanwhile every once in a while he’ll go to the wrong side of the tracks (where he’s from) to interview some kid who’s working shifts at the community supermarket to keep bread on the family table and who is hungry to learn, who devours books. He says those kids have no shot anymore. Seeing so many kids who want to learn and are shut out by the credentialed gatekeepers is severely disillusioning to him, but it’s what I saw firsthand.
I find that so interesting. (And soul-crushing). It does make you think about the psychological effects of not having to work for anything.
I’m not surprised it happens, but am surprised at Lori and Felicity.
I kind of feel bad for the kids, I wonder if they were pressured into it, or eagerly went along with it. Either way, they’ve been exposed as cheaters too.
But I really feel for the kids who truly worked hard or excelled as athletes and weren’t given a spot because of these rich a-holes.
Same here, I feel bad for one set of kids and worse for the other. Obviously the children of the indicted parties will be okay in the material sense, but they didn’t ask to be born to sociopaths, and I have to wonder how many of them were lied to by their parents, e.g. “Oh, the reason you’re taking the SAT at a different location is because they’re making special dispensations for kids like you with ADHD diagnoses.”
I think it’s important to remember they are entertainers and their goody-goody facades are just that.
This! When I saw this news yesterday my first thought was Felicity Huffman? That doesn’t sound like something she would do. Immediately I corrected myself. I don’t know her. She’s an excellent actor. But as my dear mother used to say, the 3 worst types of people are the liar, the thief and the cheat. Felicity Huffman hits the trifecta. Jail is a good place for her.
I find it difficult to assume the girls didn’t know, and also, I won’t give an 18 year old girl a pass for “just going along with” her parents on something like this. An 18 year old should have some kind of moral compass. Unless, of course, her parents are amoral superficial entitled twits.
ProPublica did a great piece on how the affluent buy college admissions, with Jared Kushner as a central plank of the story.
The rules have always been different for those of means, and the NCAA is the most hypocritical entity of all.
Oh yeah Jared was dumb as a post in that article. Daddy bought him a seat for sure.
Jared even looks stupid, like he doesn’t know where he is.
What’s amazing is Trump Jr and Kellyanne are all over twitter mocking Huffman and Loughlin and calling them names. It is so infuriating. Why are they so low class!
Trump Jr is the real funny one. It’s widely known in NYC his admission was paid for. He was a terrible student apparently.
Jared Kushner’s dad donated one million each, to Yale, Princeton and Harvard, not sure he if he did not donate to a fourth college.
The principal at Jared’s high school, said they were kids there that were smarter than Jared, who deserved the same chance.
There is term called ‘Grandfathered in’ how do you think George W Bush got into Yale?
“grandfathered in” actually has its roots in post civil war voting rights – but agree with your overall comment.
Bush was a “legacy student,” his father & grandfather were graduates of Yale, which is yet another common and unfair advantage (that mostly favors wealthy whites) in academic competition, but not illegal (like this sting).
Still, JUST as dubious (as I’m sure some money probably also exchanged hands to keep him there).
Harvard’s 2017 class was 1/3rd legacy students. http://static7.businessinsider.com/harvard-z-list-legacy-candidates-2018-7
Agree, this practice is totally wrong too.
Doesn’t Notre Dame block off 1/4 of their incoming class every year for legacy students? And I think UVA has a similar generous policy (when I was in HS, as a legacy at UVA you were considered the same as in state, which at the time was easier in terms of getting accepted – but that was 20 years ago.) So the legacy practice has always bothered me, because I think it helps to keep an exclusive ruling class, but its nothing new.
Although I guess maybe this *waves arms at post* is nothing new either.
I find it hard to defend the phenomenon of legacy students considering it inherently creates a symbiotic relationship between rich donors and universities that has turned into a necessary one. Such a dynamic might have been tolerable back when Harvard and Yale were the equivalent of preparatory schools for the rich, but now they serve as bottlenecks into the worlds of finance, law, etc. (for starters look at the makeup of the Supreme Court and the appellate courts). It’s the embodiment of regulatory capture.
I went to a midwestern public school and I think at the time (early 2000s) that being a legacy student had the same amount of points as being an underrepresented minority. My impression is that legacy points play a bigger role for the more selective public universities like Cal, UCLA, Michigan, and Virginia.
Real world, though, the money to run these places has to come from somewhere. Your alumni are your donors and you try not to piss them off. Maybe the answer is to allow 30% legacy but then have a 30% lottery pool and have subsidy funds tied to the lottery pool. Then have some pretty basic cutoff to get in the lottery pool. The other 30% at discretion of the school (picking oboe players, athletes, debaters, etc).
It is disgusting. These kids already have so many opportunities. I got top grades even though I went to a rough school, had nobody helping me prepare for Uni (because I was the only one doing it) and spent my weekends and vacations earning money. If those spoiled brats can’t make the grade with all their advantages, then there is no way they should survive the academic demands of a top University. Maybe for that type it is all about the contacts they make not what they might learn.
Wow Aunt Becky is a true Becky…
I have a lot of serious thoughts about the topic of this post, but your comment made me giggle.
Yeah, this is a very funny comment.
I’m sure it won’t happen, but I would love to see everyone involved do some jail time.
Wealthy people are trash.
It has started to seem they really are the biggest parasites.
You’ll find trash in every socioeconomic class. I have wealthy in-laws who are genuinely kind people who give hundreds of thousands to charity every year.
The problem is though – and I’m not talking about your in-laws and I’m sure they are nice decent people, I know wealthy decent people too – that there are ultra rich people who use every trick to hoard money, not paying their taxes, and then throw a bit into a charity so they can seem and feel better.
Here’s the problem with that rebuttal: in a capitalist system, the wealth classes hold the majority of the socioeconomic power. Therefore, their corruption has far reaching impact. The 2008 recession is an example of how the greed of the relative few causes massive social problems. You could probably count less than fifty people truly responsible for that mess when you pare it down to CEOs and boards. Yet it literally caused global market recession. Millions suffered for it, and it was the general public that bailed it out.
That’s why we care about wealth trash more than we do poor trash. Wealth has access and opportunities to do better. It’s way more limited down the ladder. It isn’t an equivalent comparison.
But we didn’t vote for them. That’s the problem. It’s possible I, for example, would look through all of their charitable giving and be 100% on board with all of it. It’s possible I wouldn’t. But I don’t know. And that’s why giving millions or billions to charity will never compensate for the innumerable ways the wealthy avoid paying their share taxes. The public has no say in how that money is spent.
lots of wealthy people are wonderful philanthropists.
SOME wealthy people are trash just some people in general are. Dogs are better.
I am so mad at this, I have three kids, one out of college, two still in college. We scrimped and saved and my girls worked hard for the grades/test scores they got. One wasn’t a very good test taker so she didn’t get into the college of her choice because of a low SAT score. Yet, here these famous rich people are, their kids can go almost anywhere they want…out of state, hell, out of the country and they can pay with cash and even after college they are probably set for life financially because of their parents professions, but no, that’s not enough, we have to F#$K the system so little Susie/Johnny are considered THE BEST and so we can brag to our friends that they are going to an Ivy League University. I hope they are all humiliated now. Kids included. Those kids were old enough to know right from wrong too.
x 1000
All people who ever cheated their way in, should be exposed. All of them.
This makes me so angry. I hope the throw the book at them both. And really Felicity? Your kid goes from a 1020 to a 1420 and it would not send up any red flags ? I’m sure her kid had to have known something was up. Well, I guess you’ve just taught your kid the biggest lesson now.
And how would a kid be able to do the work in the Ivy, if they can’t cut it in high school? Is mom paying for exams and homework too?
Don’t doubt it.
That’s what I was trying to figure out. If that’s the best that girl could do on her own I cannot imagine she lasted long….unless mom kept paying.
How utterly humiliating for all of these families…humiliation they fully deserve.
Also I am willing to bet that there are a lot of Hollywood, political, and business elite sweating BUCKETS today wondering if they are next. Live in fear folks, no sympathy at all!
Getting into an Ivy League school may be difficult but getting out is not. My co-worker graduated from Harvard and said that as long as you show up, you get an ‘A’. Harvard doesn’t hand out ‘C’s’ because it makes the overall numbers of the school lower.
I’ll be honest – my standardized test scores weren’t great. Not terrible, but not impressive, because my ADHD makes studying for and taking those tests very hard. So I started at community and moved up to university – and graduated summa cum laude, top of my class. Because I’m an excellent student, just bad at organization.
So I can get how some people thrive in one environment but not in others, but this is demeaning. It’s insulting to those of us who had to give up our dreams because of financial and mental limitations.
They get other people to do their work for them or they get gentlemen’s c.
As a long-time college/uni prof, I don’t understand how teachers can let people get off with an “A” without effort. I have very high expectations of my students and they sign up for my classes specifically because of that. It’s known. I don’t think other profs at my school would engage in this kind of grade inflation, and while I do work individually with students especially those who require accommodation, there is no expectation of passing the course without working hard. And students come up to me years later to tell me how much the classes meant to them and what they remember. Because they studied and they made it through and are proud of their accomplishments. I just can’t understand this kind of graft to pass students, all for money. Maybe stupid of me but if I was in it for the money, should have left long ago…
College isn’t really that hard if you pick the right school and the right classes. I was going through some procrastination/concentration/burn-out issues towards my later years at Yale so I got a couple of C’s/D’s in certain courses while getting As and Bs in others. It really just depended on the subject. We were given enough freedom to shape our schedule (while meeting the requirements of our major) that I could have come out with a 4.0 if I would have given up on computer science, which did not meld well with concentration/burn-out issues, and picked something else.
@Anna – You sound like an excellent professor who has high standards, and your former students are your proof. Take pride in your reputation and a job well done.
@Tabitha – I think your co-worker is wrong to make such a blanket generalization. What was her major course of study? Maybe she got lucky in a couple of her electives or was trying to downplay her credentials, because she is mistaken. I personally know athletes at Harvard who were suspended from their teams because their average dipped below the acceptable limit (2.5 gpa). They indeed did receive a “C” (or lower) and had to study that much harder to bring up their GPA in order to be reinstated to the team. (And no, they were not accepted into the school based on their athletic talent. They all had the highest GPAs and test scores, along with numerous extra-curriculars in h.s.) One of them decided to quit the team because he had a double major and could not handle the stress of studying combined with the 4-5 hours/day spent on conditioning and practices. There was no allowance made by the coach, regardless of who you were. (One player, an engineering major, had a father who was a very successful former pro. He was suspended like anyone else until he brought his grades up.)
I imagine they have a long list of excuses for why their children didn’t earn the best scores. See it all the time.
Felicity’s kid’s second SAT attempt was over 400 points more than her first eh? So she only got around 1000 the first time, yikes.
This is not surprising but maybe a bit surprising, ha. Like we all always knew being wealthy and famous helped you to get into school. But this just seems so blatant; I think the sheer audacity is what is surprising to me. Although like others have said endowments and just outright donations are basically the same thing (a la Jared Kushner), but this just seems shadier?
I went to a very highly ranked college, with lots of ridiculously wealthy people, but they could all hold their own when it came to grades. Maybe being Division 3 helped?
These parents already have financial access to the best schools, academic tutoring, private coaches, etc. They have resources that most families don’t have to help their kids to get into top schools the honest way. But apparently, the honest way takes too much effort.
Felicity Huffman always seemed like such a class act. Apparently not.
Felicity did act like a desperate housewife from a wealthy suburb in America. The irony in this is that Linette would be deeply disappointed in her.
So much to be indignant about here. I’m going to highlight the irony of how the rich and powerful people who do this are devaluing the system that they are buying into. Like how can they put any stock into which school someone attended if they know by personal experience that they schemed their kid into that school? Are they still only hiring people to their company who go to the top 10 or 25 schools, then? It’s so f-d up. While the rest of the students have to slave at their studies and extracurriculars to get into this corrupt system because if you don’t you might not have the same opportunities. I guess. I read elsewhere that Lori Laughlin’s daughter who unwittingly received this benefit is some Instagram/YouTuber with over 1 million followers. I’d say she would probably be fine in terms of income without attending whatever top tier school she got into. Like, do these people not realize that the rest of us just want to make sure our kids can buy their own home and have decent healthcare and comfort in life? Ugh.
I completely agree with what you’re saying but honestly, these people don’t care about value, only optics.
As I’ve said many times around here, I work for a (VERY) small company who’s owner is worth $80M. Every day is an education; every day is an episode of Rich People Behaving Badly. They don’t think about the consequences of what they’re doing to undermine Ivy League status–not for one second–all they care about is that their kid gets into a great private school, a great college, and then gets a great job at a well-known company. Everything is about prestige and labels and everything is for bragging rights. It’s insane.
Damn…all I can say is…I would love a reality tv show about your job now.
Though, in all honesty, I am incredibly indignant about what’s happened here as well. I come from a low-middle class family and my parents can’t give me $1000 never mind donate $15,000 to a university of my choice! I paid my way through uni and am still saving to buy an apartment, which is an almost slim-to-none chance in the city I live in. Not only do these rich people have to pay their children’s way into university, they also have to fake their test scores which pisses me off because I know so many young students who study their butts off to get a good SAT score so that their futures look a little brighter. Shame on them! And what really makes me just as upset? Knowing that they probably won’t be penalized as much for this.
After working in a private school for many years, this does not surprise me. Only surprised that it’s being investigated.
I mean, as a parent this is disgusting behavior because you are telling your child YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH AS YOU ARE!!!
They should be shamed and mortified for what they did to their children. This is so public and I bet their children feel like 100% failures now. Way to go parents.
These kids knew. The kids are not being told they aren’t good enough. They are being told that no matter how mediocre they are, they will still get everything they want out of life. Raised that way since birth so they are used to it.
These kids are not feeling sorry for themselves. Go look up Lori’s daughter’ youtube channel (Olivia Jade). She was very smug about getting into USC and claimed she didn’t even want to go and she’s there for the parties.
What a return of investment! They are only sorry they got caught!
More likely they’re being taught they’re entitled to it, just because of who they are, and that they don’t have to work for it, because mommy and daddy will fix it for them.
Such people do not grow up to be useful adults, unfortunately.
I don’t understand how the kids didn’t know. Perhaps it’s believable for the ones that were *this* close to being accepted on their own but most of them probably knew they didn’t have the grades and must’ve suspected something. What happens to these kids now? Are they expelled? How can you go to class everyday for the next four years knowing that everyone knows your mom bough your spot?
Lori Loughlin has a daughter that’s quite popular on Youtube and she admitted to only going to college for the “experience” and the parties. 500k for that? What a waste.
I bet the children knew something was up but told not to ask questions.
I think most of them knew. It had to be clear to them from placement exams given in high school that they weren’t going to get in to their colleges of choice. That’s something counselors and faculty start working with kids on quite early.
They must have known. These kids did not do well in high school so they probably won’t do well in University either. They probably have a lot of “help” getting decent grades in University…and by “help” I mean mommy/daddy are paying someone else to do their essays and take their exams for them. I mean I wouldn’t be surprised.
Ted Kennedy paid someone to take his Spanish exam in his Ivy League school but he still served in Congress. The rich take advantage of everything in life but always have a speech for the ‘lazy’ ones to work harder. Liars.
Loughlin’s daughters definitely knew. I just read the indictment. They lied about being on the crew of the rowing team. They had to submit a staged photo showing them in a rowing pose. The FBI’s recorded phone calls reference how their high school counselor inquired how they could submit they were on a rowing team on their college application when they never participated in rowing before. They definitely KNEW.
Huffman’s daughter knew because a hired gun helped her take the test & corrected her answers afterwards.
If they were over 18 at the time, then they should be charged as well.
Then please disregard my comment down below, where I said Olivia comes across as “guileless” in a couple of her vlogs that I viewed for about two minutes each. She obviously takes after her mama, Lori, and has inherited some acting genes. (Slinking away…)
Lori’s daughter is a YouTube influencer and has (had*) a clip up where she is clearly not the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree but she admits she’s in college for “the experience (NOT the education)” and wants to “party.” As if buying an apartment/condo in a college town wouldn’t have been just as effective.
*I’m sure it’s been yanked or will be soon.
I’d love to know what her major is and how her grades are. I’m guessing someone does all her essays for her?
Oh that’s who that was? Lol I just saw that clip on twitter, she’s “making projects with countries!”
Go on YouTube and search for: “new season, new clothes (try on haul!) l Olivia Jade.”
She is taking a beating in the comments section. Yikes. She even yells out a question to her mom in the video.
In follow-up to my last comment… I watched a couple minutes of two other vlogs Olivia did. She comes across as a wholesome and fairly humble teenager even though she’s given the world (trips, clothes, etc.). If I had to make a judgement I’d say mom (Lori) was behind this disaster. Olivia Jade appears too guileless to me.
wait, so she makes money for trying on clothes…? I’m in the wrong biz.
The daughter’s channel is one of the worst I’ve ever come across on YouTube. Unbelievably dull content, no charisma, clearly only popular for the ‘luxury’ hauls she does. Just horrible.
Guess her parents were so desperate to show their kid wasn’t a complete dingdong brat they wanted her in school. I would be embarrassed if she was my kid honestly.
If this is the oldest daughter, the FBI affidavit says that her dad wanted her to go anywhere but ASU (Arizona State University), which is funny as it sounds like she would have been the stereotypical ASU partier.
Page 89 of the affidavit, https://www.justice.gov/file/1142876/download
lol yes ASU was (and maybe still is?) the biggest party school in the country for a long time
that is so funny
This is vile, disgusting, horrible etc etc etc. Nothing good here.
An observation, however about reporting….
Every headline mentions actresses, notably Ms Huffman and Loughlin.
William H Macy is a bigger star than his wife. Yet his name is buried in the heart of the piece.
Why are “actresses” the selling point of the scandal and not the male parents?
Are women somehow guiltier of the exact same crime?
People will be more outraged if they think females were behind the crime. Macy, for some reason, wasn’t arrested, only Felicity was. I’m guessing they have some proof against her that they don’t have against him. With Lori, they have proof against her and her husband (who is the founder of Mossimo clothing).
Macy wasn’t indicted–only Huffman was–that is why he isn’t in the headline. I assume because there was more blatant evidence against her than him – the whole document is available online for those who want to read the case against them.
Loughlin and her husband were both indicted, but the headline only mentions her I’m sure because she is much more famous than he is.
They have Felicity on tape and there’s a check as proof. Lori was emails. They will only indict if they have tangible proof. I guess Macy did not leave a paper trail.
It’s still always “where was his/her mother when this and that happened?” It’s never “where was the dad?”.
I agree with the point you’re making, but in this case it really does seem like it was Felicity’s doing. Her husband is not named in the indictment and all of the evidence they have is on her. I have no doubt he knew something was going on, but who knows if he realized the extent of the fraud.
Oh yeah, I do think he maybe didn’t know that much since his name didn’t come up first. But just in general, the mom always somehow gets the blame.
meh…many women handle the household financials, their kids schooling and write the checks. This is possibly only about who actually handed over the money versus sexism.
Not excusing their behavior, but when my children went to college I (mom) was the one that helped them with applications and getting loans. So that may be the reason the women were named. Just a thought.
I had to reread this a couple of times. Of all the headlines I thought I would read today…this is not one. Holy crap.
I feel less bad somehow about Victoria Beckham’s kid now, getting the leg up in photography school/photo campaigns, etc. I feel less angry at celebs like Cindy Crawford helping/buying Kaia a modeling career than those bribing universities for their kids.
I need to stop attributing positive moral ideals/integrity to people I don’t know. I thought these ladies were above this type of behavior. Shows what I know. 🤷🏼♀️
Why do you feel less bad? It’s all the same crappy entitled behavior.
Yes, it’s really infuriating.
It isn’t the kids’ fault if they won the genetic lottery and have rare opportunities. It’s all right if they keep a low profile. However, it is annoying and borderline insulting when they refuse to acknowledge their unique luck.
I see that a lot with the IG models. It’s fantastic that Gigi Hadid showed an healthier body on the runway during her first seasons but how many average up-and-coming models with 994 followers can afford to show up weighting 15 more pounds than everyone else and being unable to walk properly which is their one and only job? They wouldn’t be hired in the first place.
I’m gonna go ahead and be a huge snob and say really? All that money and criminal behavior to get your kid into USC? Go big or go home.
Bwahaha. University of Spoiled children, indeed.
Expose every one of these frauds! Shame them! Expel any kids who are known to have participated in the cheating. Sidenote: what a time to be alive if you’re the editor of a celebrity gossip site!
Those sound like they probably even aren’t the heaviest hitters on the list
Huffman and Loughlin are just the most recognizable names to the general public. The CEO of Hercules Capital (current market cap: $1.1 billion) was indicted, as well as an executive for Pacific Investment. Many names on the list are high-ranking members of private equity firms and other illustrious financial companies.
Agree with all comments made…but, a question I have is why are these parents setting their kids up for a lifetime of failure?
Their kids don’t meet the criteria of enrollment, the odds of them competing in a rarified academic environment are going to be against them; as in low grades & repeating courses. Job prospects reduced because they’ll be competing against graduates of prestige universities…why would their parents want to instill a sense of failure & lifetime insecurities?
“Thanks, Mom & Dad….for telling everyone that you believed I was too stupid or too lazy to get into the school of my choice on my own merit & efforts. Also, for being so arrogant in assuming I’m too immature to accept that as an adult, sometimes I won’t get what I want & may have to re-adjust my goals.”
Well, they thought they were setting these kids up for a lifetime of saying “I went to Stanford” “I went to USC” etc.
And the parents for a lifetime of bragging “My little darling went to Stanford”, etc.
They are counting on the name brand putting a halo of achievement over their families -who is going to care what grades their students actually get at their prestigious university.
It’s unfortunate that the name brand counts for so disproportionately much in higher education in the U.S.
I’m pretty sure that the answer to your question(s) is that the parents are banking on their fame, wealth, privilege and connections to allow their kids to coast through life and later, adulthood.
They wouldn’t be wrong either.
And once they have a degree, they don’t care what the grades were – still got the degree thus are ‘qualified’ on paper, and their name will do most of the work anyway.
Or they are hoping they will marry well and become a desperate housewife.
Lifetime of failure? UMMMMM, please see Exhibit A)-President of the United States and his entire administration. Failing up is a real thing.
Connections, connections, connections. When you go to a school like that, you have the networking in place that allows you to consistently fail up – and if you stumble, there’s a soft middle to catch you.
Also, you know what? USC is not unattainable school to the degree of some of the other mentioned Ivies. I mean, applying and working through the grade point and exam grade expectations are all attainable goals for average kids, do these parents simply have zero expectations for their kid’s education? Are they entirely neglecting their basic requirements for human development past keeping them alive? Did Loughlin’s daughter really need her parents to “donate” $500,000 to get her into USC, did she really put no effort into learning and advancing through high school? Wealth and status is such a destroyer to cultural and social norms and expectations, this is deplorable.
Actually USC has gotten harder and harder to get into, especially certain programs. As have all the California state universities. So many highly qualified applicants that they can all be very selective.
Well, no wonder celeb spawns usually end up acting or modelling. Less expensive and tiring for the parents. I mean, a few phone calls, browsing through yout contact list seem a lot easier than those elaborate schemes.
Johnny Depp is relieved that his daugther chose to not increase his debts (I could have picked any other kid, this one just came to mind)
Rich people pay for their kids to get ahead in life… Didn’t see that one coming.
And:
“Huffman did not go through with the cheating for her youngest daughter”
The look on the poor kid’s face when she realizes only her sister was worth going through all the trouble. All in all not a good day for the family.
Lori’s daughter is apparently a “famous YouTuber” and she went on one video saying she didn’t care for college and that she is going so she can party. Way to go mom. I can’t imagine how that slot is wasted on this kid instead of someone who really wants to go.
This is all pathetic that their children can’t get in on merit alone.
Olivia also has made a lot of money through ads and sponsorships on social media as well as her YouTube Channel BECAUSE she is an university student. This is a business to her. Teeth cleaning products, music streaming discounts, makeup, etc.For example, she promotes Amazon prime student deals and got an interview with Teen Vogue, using it to promote the company. And we can’t say she didn’t know because the documents show Olivia did not complete the applications herself….yikes yikes yikes
I guess I’m completely jaded. I feel like it’s just the way the world works, and surely we all know that rich kids get bought privilege all the time. The fact that somebody in law enforcement actually decided to do anything about it is what shocks me.
I have no doubt they will get off free with no consequences.
What is going on now, being indicted and having it public, is a type of consequence, IMO.
This enrages me on so many levels. I am a school counselor and I see kids working their ass off to get into good schools. Those people are cancelled and should go to jail.
As someone pointed out upthread, these people are relatively low-hanging fruit. The Ivy League regularly admits children of billionaires, royalty, and titan of industry. Are these kids coincidentally the best of the best or is someone writing a check? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Wasn’t there a story recently of a young black girl who got investigated because she scored way higher her second time taking the SATs? She, unlike Felicity’s kid, studied harder and got actual tutoring and that’s how she was able to gain a much higher score. But then her academic future was threatened because people didn’t want to believe she didn’t cheat. But Felicity’s kid actually cheats and now what? Is her kid going to get investigated also? Are they gonna rescind her admission and expel her? I wouldn’t be surprise if there are no repercussions for it. Also there is no way her daughters didn’t know. How do you not question going through 4 years if highschool knowing you’re a less than avg student, take the SATs and get a low score, take it again and do as badly, even with special treatment and 100% more time, but somehow get a much higher score? and then gain admission into a top school?– If the daughters didn’t know, they were delusional and or in denial. I wonder how their grades are now.
That was part of the Landry application fraud scandal, where school administrators at an unaccredited private school faked college applications for students so they could gain admission to top schools. The students were barely taught anything and spent the majority of their school days prepping for boards. Most struggled at their colleges and flunked out.
Wowww. Well least the result of the fraud is a bit fitting, them failing despite all the privileges they bought.
I believe all this cheating starts on kindergarten level.
Preschool.
Honestly I think the system is partly to blame. Rich parents realize from the beginning they can buy them the kindergarden education that will then lead to an opportunity to buy them into the next level of education, and then the next, and then the next. And from their POV it always works out. They probably reason it like why stop doing it if everyone they know also does it and gets rewarded for it
In NYC it starts in utero. I’m not even kidding.
I believe you are correct – in some instances. Here is the opposite side of that coin. My youngest son wouldn’t let me near ANY of his projects beginning in first grade, he was that independent. (It was a running joke in our house.) His school would assign a book report to be done in four parts (read book, write the report, create a diorama of one scene, write note cards for the oral presentation), with different variations on those parts. It drove me crazy to not be allowed to help him with even picking out materials to use for a diorama, lol. On the due date, we’d show up at school (I was allowed to carry his diorama) and see the biggest, most intricately designed productions of other students, clearly designed and/or assembled by parents (these were first and second graders). Teachers rolled their eyes at these masterpieces and issued warnings of, “Let your student do their own work,” to these parents who literally ran the school. I wasn’t in their clique.
Fast forward to high school, junior year, when students are taking SATs and writing essays applying to colleges. My son was so secretive in what he was doing (bought study guides/books to prep for the test, made a list of “top three, middle three, bottom three” college choices), I worried. He ended up getting into an Ivy League school (yes, it was on his “list”) because he not only worked hard for the grades, but he worked his *ss off in two sports, joined after school clubs, did volunteer work and tutored, and ran for student govt. He was not the best athlete on his teams, nor did he hold the highest govt. office, but by putting himself out there he was involved in every aspect of his h.s. life. His friends in college came from similar experiences – they tried harder and got involved in as many things as possible.
When I hear this type of story about parents’ meddling I feel bad for their children. It’s the parents’ high expectations that are the culprit. My older son is not like his brother. I never would’ve expected him to be. I love them equally and accept them for who they are, and that is where I pity Lori and Felicity. It sounds like they had higher goals than their kids and possibly treated them as if they were not “enough.”
I think Lori and Felicity wanted the brag factor – how hard would it be to give an interview to InStyle Magazine and admit that your kid attends the community college down the street? Yale sounds much better.
Tabitha Stevens, The thing is there’s plenty of middle ground between community college and Yale. Would it really be so embarrassing to say your kid went to, say, University of Wisconsin or some other respectable but not elite university? Although most people probably don’t realize that admission to flagship state universities like Wisconsin are no longer a slam dunk.
Bragging about your kids is vulgar, no matter how it’s done
We probably all remember those kids, who had parents do everything for them. I knew a kid, his dad did all of his homework “with” him every night, and shocker, he didn’t last more than a few weeks at college because he was on his own.
A guy from my HS class got into Cornell on his grades, and at graduation he told me he had cheated off me all the time. I’m still pissed about that 20+ years later.
Holy cr*p. That fact alone would chap my butt. I’m a firm believer in “What goes around comes around,” or any sentiment promoting that what you put out into the world you’ll get back tenfold. That guy has sown the seeds of his fate, and one day you’ll get some satisfaction.
The only surprising thing about this, is that there are celebrities out there pushing (cheating and bribing but still…) their daughters to go to college and not become insta models.
Lori Loughlin’s daughter is an instamodel, Olivia Jade. She complains about attending USC on her social media and says she is just there to party and doesn’t even know how many classes she will actually attend because she apparently is busy with her nepotastic social media “career”
The fact that she had to CHEAT to get in, then acts above it is so hilarious. Unethical!! Will Lori’s hallmark movie career be affected now? a felonious unethical cheater doesn’t seem like Hallmark movie actress material anymore
Her and her sister cheated on the SATS and should be expelled from college. Good luck with instagram now ya liar!
I mean… it’s not all that surprising to me? The wealthy have been doing this forever, it’s not really that big of a surprise.
I do have to say that it’s messed up, but that’s just the world that we live in… where money will always reign as king and no matter how much we persevere, there’s always going to be something that can’t be done unless we have the money to do so…
This is so gross but such a juicy story, wow wow wow. I’m shocked by the people involved. I bet this happens frequently in wealthy circles, though.
Such great, popcorn gossip right?!
Most wealthy people who want their kid (or kids) into a school literally buy a library, building, or research lab (just pick one) so I’ve been told by friends who work directly for a famous “tech university” on the east coast. No need to commit mail fraud, bribery, etc. I bet nobody in this sees jail time etc but given all the lawyer fees and total embarrassment for both kids and parents wouldn’t it just be cheaper to buy the building et al and be done with it already?
Yeah I think it is one thing to be a wealthy person and want your average / mid range child to attend your alma mater university and you donate millions to build a new baseball field for example. It is one thing for your child to overshoot for that university and you donate to help out, I think it’s a whole other level of unethical to CHEAT on the SATS like Lori Louglin’s daughters did or LIE to get on the roster of a college sports team when you never even played the sport.
Why didn’t they spend the 500K on the front end and get her some tutors and excellent education? hahahahaha
If they spent 250K to build this child’s “resume” over the child’s lifetime (tutors, education, athletic coaching) – the children could have potentially qualified for these schools on their own and rightfully so! How lazy to spend $500K CHEATING.
USC is the go to School for rich white kids that can’t get into Ivy League
hahahahahahahaha
They can buy their kids just about anything. And it can all be so easy.
Brand equals status, they will buy their children certain clothes, cars, phones, vacations….and college is just another brand name they are purchasing.
Simple as that methinks
I’m still pissed 8 years later with what I’m about to share. I was born into lower middle class, raised in a trailer, but did go to state college (thank you dad). I worked hard, defied a lot of naysayers, and wound up in a c suite job in a very large nonprofit organization. I made good money admittedly but was not Uber rich. I could afford to send my only son to an elite private school. There were a few kids kids with last names you’d recognize there. In a class of 90 something, mine graduated in top 3-4. He has solid extra curriculars (again top 3-4]. He scored 1380 on his SAT (missed 1 question and his was the top score in his glass) and scored PERFECT grades on his subject matter tests. And he was a recognized leader in his class. Not a jock but the standup kid who mentored others and volunteered for jobs that didn’t led to glory. Never in any trouble ever.
I literally though anyone would accept him. Haha.
He wanted Yale —denied. He liked Stanford-denied. He also applied to Princeton and Brown —waitlisted both. He was accepted to Duke, UNC (they offered full ride scholarship), Boston U (also offered a scholarship ), Davidson & Univ Tx Plan II. He was accepted at and attended one of the nations very top liberal arts school. He loved it so I shouldn’t complain.
But what pisses me off …….because he was an upper middle class kid but not a legacy — I saw several of those “names” whose grades, scholastic achievements etc — didn’t come close. We weren’t rich enough to endow anything. And my last name doesn’t ring bells. And his demographic (yes white) also wasn’t in the “check the admissions box” category. He didn’t get an Ivy League education but he did get a damn fine one.
I’m still angry 8 years later that my brilliant son was denied Ivy while I knew many others who weren’t brilliant but they fit the boxes.
So I am more than fine with any Uber rich person with a lazy, entitled kid getting busted on this.
Realllly fine. 😡
Congratulations for raising a great kid. He will go far in life because he isn’t afraid of hard work and has wonderful parents who set a fine example.
It’s truly sad how money and connections rule these schools. Not surprising, but just completely unfair.
It’s absolute garbage, and I don’t blame you for being mad. On the bright side, you’ve obviously raised a great kid (around my age) who had to actually put the hard work in to get where he is – and clearly isn’t afraid to work hard to succeed. If something goes wrong in his life – he’ll have the coping mechanisms to pull himself out of most situations. These other morons never will.
Don’t be angry! Your son will always know he didn’t buy his place in the world. But yeah it’s okay to despise the cheaters.
Thanks everyone. We are blessed and we know it. And in a few days I’ll be on a plane to Japan to visit by brilliant 25 year old son — who speaks 4 languages — who lives there now after time in South Korea. He’s an alumni of the Fulbright Program, the JETTE program and (to his mom at least) is the cats meow. Yeah, I raised a citizen of the world for sure.
But yes. I’m still pissed. Thanks for letting me vent without judgment 😙
Hey-we’re waiting on my senior’s acceptances/rejections this month-I don’t blame you at all for being mad. But congratulations on raising a great kid.
I commented above about my son’s experience in h.s. before I had the chance to read yours. I did not come from wealth either. I didn’t get help with college, had to do it while working and attending night school. I vowed I would financially help my kids if they wanted to attend, but they had to get in on their own. It boggles my mind how the process goes in selection of students at some of these universities. Your son sounds like an outstanding, well-rounded individual. He had a great example. You.
p.s. Those “legacy” students who attend the Ivies aren’t fooling anyone while they are there. The other students know when they’re succeeding or failing. However, not all are riding the coattails of their parents. My son was friends with a well-known NY politician’s daughter when she dated his best friend for three years. She busted her butt and wanted nothing to do with the family’s ideas.
No one’s ethnicity is in the check the admissions box category and I really wish that borderline racist notion would just die. Students of color that work just as hard as your son are admitted and rejected from Ivy Leagues all the time simply because there isn’t enough room to accept the 30k often self-selected students that apply. If anything, I’d argue that there are more barriers preventing students of color from even contemplating applying be it financial (SAT/Prep+APP fees+ no cash to stack the app) or social (HS counselors pushing them elsewhere) that the pool students of color is often put through another round of self selection that further winnows the poll of students.
It’s highly more like that he lost a spot to a legacy admit or another white student with worse/slightly better qualifications, which tend to be a wash at that point, who may have different extracurriculars and looked like they were veering towards a different subject of study.
Thank you for this.
There is definitely a goal at these universities to have diverse classes and that is quite admirable. But it’s naive to think that that doesn’t translate to affirmative action decisions and yes — ethnicity can be a factor in admission. That’s not saying that anyone who is admitted isn’t worthy of being there but no unlegacy and unendowed middle class white kid is going to get the tie breaker in those circumstances described unless he throws a football.
Jesus, really? You’re that pissed because you’re prevcious Angel didn’t get to go to an Ivy? GFAO. No one is entitled to attend any particular school full stop. And life is not fair news flash. I’m sorry but your son is not as uniquely talented and brillant as you think he is. Your son was incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to go to college PERIOD. You’d think you’d be thankful. Instead your anger reinforces the very idea that these Ivies are better than the school your son went to. You must know that they’re not yet you wanted the satisfaction of having that prestigious Ivy League aluma mater attached to his name. You are buying into and sustaining this whole system of elite vs non-elites. Your entitlement is depressing but not shocking unfortunately.
What are they charged with? How much “time” will that bring ?
Mail fraud–fraudulent scheme to deprive one of honest services, intentionally. Federal crime, 18 United States Code Section 1341. Does not have to be through the US mail–could include email or phone communications–it is the interstate nature of the communications that make it federal.
Up to a million dollars or 30 years in prison, neither of which these individual defendants will end up paying/doing, but the fact that they are being held responsible for their alleged criminal behavior is good enough for me even if their sentences end up being low.
It’d be nice if they all had to pay hefty fines, which would go to scholarships for DESERVING students at the schools they defrauded.
Disgusting. Get into college based on your own merit, not based on what mommy and daddy can negotiate or buy.
This is repulsive. I’m glad it wasn’t hushed up & swept under a rug. The amount of entitlement on these people’s parts is staggering.
Lol my friends and I were talking about how us being in college is a lowkey scam the other day. Guess we were more right than we thought.
It really is, at least in the US. Colleges used to be the gatekeepers to a well rounded classical education – well that information is out there practically for free for anyone who wants it. It’s crazy that colleges can get away with charging what they charge. Overwhelming too much of the budget is spent on facilities and buildings, professors are being replaced with adjuncts. It’s a damn shame and I can’t wait for the reckoning.
It’s worth it if you just like learning, or if you are going into something highly technical (engineering or architecture) using it as a basis for something else (law school, medical school, nursing, etc) But not really worth it for most people.
I keep thinking about this. Now it’s occurring to me that $15k to have your SAT answers improved by 400 points seems like a suspiciously low amount. It’s a drop in the bucket of the cost of tuition and books and room/board. If it’s that cheap to cheat then I’m wondering why they didn’t indict more than 33 rich parents.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Jordana Brewster graduated from Yale with a degree in English. Her grandfather was once president of the university. Many celebrities attend Ivy League schools but it appears most enter ‘easy’ programs – acting, fine arts, English Lit, African Studies, Renaissance Studies – can you actually get a job with this? All nonsense.
Whoa @tabitha
Jordanna went into acting after Yale
Sure she had legacy status but that doesn’t mean she is similar to these cases…seems unfair to me.
Also how gross for you to say that these qualify as “‘easy’ programs – acting, fine arts, English Lit, African Studies, Renaissance Studies”
I think you really lost sight of what this post is about
I went to Yale. Graduated with a degree in Computer Science. None of those subjects that you mentioned were “easy” and many would stump the STEM kids in a heartbeat. As for job prospects, many of my friends that majored in those subjects have gone on to become lawyers, doctors, teachers, and more.
They got cooperating witnesses – people involved in this specific scheme, this company called The Key, and another college prep consultant who ran these companies that promised college advantages. In exchange for plea deals (for a variety of crimes including money laundering, racketeering, and obstruction of justice) they helped the government collect evidence on the scheme.
I just read the indictment. On top of the cheating and entitlement scam, the organization the parents paid the money to was a tax exempt organization. So the parents were using the money they paid to cheat their kids into college as a tax write off. WTF?!!!!
The other parents and Huffmman’s story made me sick, but Loughlin’s was worse to me. They paid $500,000 just to get their kids into a school. NOT EVEN TUITION. They could’ve bought degrees to other schools for that amount of money. In, the FBI’s recorded phone conversation with Loughlin’s husband, Mossimo (who was also indicted), they indicated he could use the payments as tax write offs which is tax fraud. I hope they throw the book at these people.
My only sympathy lies with the students who actually put in the work & played by the rules, only to find out they can’t get in to a certain school.
Yes! Good point, I forgot about the tax fraud/charity fraud aspect.
I honestly wonder, if there are so many kids getting into these “top” schools or Ivy League schools, that are “legacy” kids or kids like these who get in by cheating…. How can those schools still maintain so much respect and high-academic regard if they are filled with low performing students? Like, is the prestige all hype? Are they actually getting educated? because it doesn’t seem like kids like that are that smart. I know later when they apply for jobs those connections matter, but again, how are they able to succeed in the jobs if they weren’t smart enough to learn it in the first place? Maybe people should stop putting so much stock into those types of schools.
The colleges hand out ‘A’s’ like M&Ms candy so the actual numbers reported to the public/government show a stellar graduate record for students. “Are they actually getting educated?” Who the heck cares!! They will get a job based on connections – their college roommate’s family owns a company or their parent’s friend from the country club can help them out with a job. How many upper tier managers on Wall Street actually do a job? Not many. They will get a cushy job and the daughters will all find rich husbands – Ivanka Trump, anyone?
Not all legacies are dumb, celebrity kids. It’s a nice brush to paint them with, but we’re talking about kids that tend to have access to the best K-12 education and tutoring in the nation. That access tends to matter.
That’s also just ignoring the fact that we tend to think of “smart” people that are good at trivia and not people who specialized in one/two subjects and ignored others. You can easily have students that excel in Organic Chemistry while bombing English courses. Not everyone gets to college and takes courses that they know they’re going to score poorly in or are just not interested in. You take the subjects that you are good at and enjoy. Grades tend to reflect that.
The Mossimmo kid looks like she has not even lifted a rowing paddle in her life. All the FBI has to do is just browsed her insta and YouTube accounts and find any sports related activities.
Hand clap for the FBI busting these rich entitled yes…bad parents.
Born on third base and think they hit a triple. This is how the world has been for a long time. The only “news” is the names involved (and I thought better of you, Flick). However, I’m glad it’s getting attention. Maybe things will change. Maybe, maybe not.
Cynical/paranoid thought: every time there’s a new out of left field story like this that captures a lot of attention (not that it isn’t important—I work in higher education, and it’s extremely important to me) I’m conditioned to worry now that we are being distracted from something important in the news cycle. I’m more worried when it’s a government story than a Hollywood story, but I’m becoming a borderline conspiracy theorist these days.
Popehat nailed it:
https://twitter.com/Popehat/status/1105560045939351553
Nothing new in the history of the world, but perhaps more obviously spitting in the eye of the populace where colleges are becoming increasingly overpriced and the wealth gap is getting ever larger.
This is gross. But rich people are used to getting things the easy way. With all that money they could have paid tutors instead to get their kids to the point of being able to be accepted by these schools. You knkw the kids could have acyually done the WORK of being accepted.
What’s really funny is that Lori Loughlin’s daughter is an influencer on Instagram and YouTube and makes mad money. She’s posted about being in school exactly TWICE. All of her other posts are her traveleing and at events. She’s never in school! So Mama’s 500k was a complete waste.
This is mind blowing to me. 500k? Tax fraud for writing the bribes off as donations?
And the husbands supported this I’m sure but the ladies did the dirty work. With millions to pass out, you buy college entrance for your kids. I’m embarrassed for all involved.
Let’s see how this plays out, smdh!
I am absolutely flummoxed the more I read of the affidavit. In at least one case (not one of the Loughlin/Huffman kids), someone was hired to take a test on a kids behalf but the parent still wanted a copy of the test sent to them so the kid could take it at home. So the kid “would believe he had taken the test.”
WTF
There is other stuff about parents worried about it would effect their kids self esteem if they knew the extreme measures the parents were taking.
It is just some sick twisted stuff!
Adding–the parent mentioned above was Jane Buckingham, the CEO of a “trend prediction” company who brands herself as the leading expert on Gen X, Y, and V (which I didn’t know was a generation, but OK).
She’s also the author of a book called the Modern Girl’s Guide to Motherhood.
LOL.
Just how STUPID are these kids? First, they buy a “home” SAT … and also have to pay bribes for secondary education. This is almost screamingly funny!!!
And now it’s all over the internet, how’s that for embarrassing your kid
Huffman and Mossimo were both arrested. Interesting to see what the fallout and how soon the investigation will spread to other schools.
Sorry if off topic or someone already stated this. My son-in-law is a professor at a university medical school. He is not allowed to fail a student because of the high tuition they pay and how it would impact the program. He has to somehow coach them and allow them to retake tests until they pass.
Gulp, med students??? Oh-kay … very comforting!
As if the system isn’t rigged enough, where the rich donate a building or are alumni’s who contribute huge sums to help their children get in. Now this.
How many, well deserving, smart, hard working young adults didn’t get in because of this type of grifting? With all that money, they couldn’t afford private tutors throughout high school so their entitled offspring could, oh, I don’t know, learn and retain knowledge? In Canada, the offer of sports scholarship is so very , very limited, this type of garbage is hard to find. Fine them all use the money to put deserving kids who can’t afford the Ivy league, but actually qualify for the Ivy league through school.
wonder if the Hallmark channel will continue using Lori in their movies…
Of course they will! She’s a shoe-in for Mommy Goes to Prison roles!
A couple of years ago, I would have guessed so. After some of the more recent choices in actors/actresses, I’m not so sure.
Why would you pay $500K to get into USC? I mean it’s a good school but for that kind of $$ they should have aimed higher. 😂😂😂
White privilege 101.
Can we talk about the fact that now these kids are going to be shamed!!! All the kids of these people are still in these schools. Will try get kicked out now? So you mean to tell me that there are some kids at Harvard who aren’t that bright. HAHA WHAT?!
This is a natural by-product of the sense of entitlement that many parents feel toward their children – and the vicious competition over everything in America. I get that everyone wants to help their kids and they want their kids to succeed. I have no doubt that many poorer parents would totally do this, if they had the means to do so.
Part of this problem is the belief that kids are entitled to certain things. A good example is going to an Ivy League school. Nobody’s kids are entitled to go to an Ivy. I don’t care how great their grades were, or how many extracurriculars they did, how great their essay was, etc. Still doesn’t mean they are entitled to go to an Ivy. It means they can apply and roll the dice and hope they get in; doesn’t mean they will and they are certainly aren’t entitled to it.
Admissions really are a bit more nebulous than people would like to believe. Many people reduce it down to a game of numbers and test scores, but a lot of this stuff isn’t indicative of how well someone is going to do in the environment or what they will bring the university’s community, which is a factor in smaller schools and a reason why many interview students. A lot of it just doesn’t matter. They’re definitely not holding low math scores over the head of a prospective English major and vice versa for a future Mathematician that can functionally read and write well enough. That would be fruitless and just ignore the fact that those subjects probably won’t be breached by the student ever again. It truly is a roll of the dice meant to fill out a diverse class of students with a wide breadth of strengths.
Ok, this is wrong and immoral and dishonest and so on. Poor parenting and just being a crap human all around.
But don’t the colleges have ownership over whom they admit? And aren’t all these colleges private so they can admit who they want? IF you are admitting someone under the guise of being on crew, wouldn’t a recruiter have verified their sport?
In this case it’s both hate the player and the game to me.
I feel like in the cases of the sports recruits, it was the head coach or a high up coach vouching for the student and taking the bribe. Unless you had some reason to believe that the head coach was gaming the system in this way, I’m not sure you would look for outside verification since there’s probably no better recruiter than him/her.
Got it..and speaks to my point that the colleges are to be blamed for this greasing of palms. Ruins the reputations of current students and alum when you have that kind of corruption taking bribes within your school.
This explains why President Dotard is so against having HIS records released. Daddy bought him his education and you can bet he did that for his spawn as well. “Wharton”, yeah sure. How much did THAT cost?
There’s no doubt in my mind this is exactly what happened.
it’s well known that boy blunder’s daddy bought his way into Harvard; and it’s just been accepted as ‘that’s the way it’s done’…
Donnie Jr cannot even spell on his twitter account. It would be interesting to see how he got “accepted” into Wharton.
the election of Trump has helped bring to the surface all the cheating, lying and sexual harassment that has been going on for generations. As a society, pushing back on this disgusting behavior is a start. Cheaters should have their degrees revoked. More children need to be raised with mindfulness and learn living with intention.
I seriously thought this was an April’s Fool joke and had to check the date! This is just so sad and angering! It is one thing to hire private tutors and coaches or to make a donation to the alumni fund. But this is a whole other level. They are not doing their kids any favors: they will always think they can do what they want and not face any consequences.
As a volunteer tutor who sees kids struggle to get scholarships to college, kids whose parents go without to send their kids to charter or private schools so they will have a chance, kids who may be the first in their families to even dream of college, I am livid. I was lucky, my parents could pay for my education, but I still had to bust my butt to get in and stay in. Several of my nieces and nephews were able to take advantage of Georgia’s Hope Scholarship, but they had to get the grades to qualify. Two of my nieces won soccer scholarships to college; they had natural talent and resources, but they sacrificed a lot to play on elite teams and be seen by scouts.
I understand parents wanting the best for their children. But is this really the best if they didn’t earn it?
And this poor woman was fined and went to jail for using her dad’s address to get her daughter into a better elementary school: https://abcnews.go.com/US/ohio-mom-jailed-sending-kids-school-district/story?id=12763654
This is actually very common. and yes, people will get arrested and kids get pulled from the school.
Yeah, that’s very common and most districts that have the reputation of having better schools know most of the tricks.
A high school friend moved with her mom after mom remarried and was technically living out of the district her sophomore year. Even though she had been in the district since elementary school, they made her petition for continued enrollment and she stayed. It also helped that multiple teachers advocated for her because she was a good student who was involved in multiple activities. Because she was under 18, she couldn’t list her boyfriend’s address where she stayed most of the time as her legal address. This was in the early 2000s, well before more states allowed for open enrollment.
I live in a state where open enrollment even within the larger cities makes parents go to some extreme measures to get into the better schools. One coworker got his eldest two into one of the better elementary schools in the city via open enrollment. By the time the youngest was kindergarten age, that school had reached its cap for open enrollment kids. His now ex-wife ended up renting an apartment within the boundaries for that school to get the kid in. All the kids will end up in the high school for which their fathers’ address is assigned.
I don’t have kids, but where the town and school district I live in is seen as more desirable, so much that it’s not accepting any more open enrollment students. I know that when I was house hunting, the great schools were one selling point.
The politics of school choice is just as interesting as normal civic politics. In the upcoming spring election, the most exciting race isn’t the mayoral election, it’s the school board election. Multiple candidates have very close ties to charter schools, ranging from being in charge of one to making the choice to send their kids to one. There’s been multiple race based incidents in schools recently, including one where a white male teacher and African-American middle school kid were involved in a disciplinary incident that turned into the worst case scenario.
why not turn all schools into “great schools”?
they PHOTOSHOPPED one kid’s head onto stock photos to show what an awesome athlete he was..
Mossimo went and publicly screamed at the high school counselor who questioned how one of the daughters could get into the USC crew team when she didn’t parricipate in high school. Sounds like a winner of a person. The crooked USC athletic coach complained that they needed to rein Dad in or he would just ruin everything.
Laughlin always portrays herself as such a clean cut, goody-goody type person. That’s what makes me sick about this. I would expect this behavior from a less pious person.
Not me. Those are always the ones, april. In my experience. They are so fos. Phonies.
My daughter was recruited by and played for an NCAA water polo team, which is the other sport under fire. If Celebitchy brings this part of the scandal up tomorrow, I’ll comment in depth. The competition for these spots is fierce, the legitimate players work so hard, and what has happened infuriates me. I’m sure it’s the same for the crew team.
Lori’s daughters are SO entitled SO Creepy SO awful
One million dollars bond for Massimo and 250K for Felicity Huffman. Yikes!
I’m not American, and I don’t really get why everyone has to get into the “best” schools anyway. Haven’t we all worked with people who are remarkably inept, considering their credentials? And with people who are amazingly capable who don’t have all the credentials?
Having attended a specific school doesn’t mean sh*t. All due respect, but I think Americans have really fallen for the marketing and commoditization of post secondary education. Yeah, you don’t want to go to a bad school, but “elite” schools are probably mostly unnecessary.
Well they committed fraud so they should go to prison. This not acceptable.
Punishment:
If those parents go to jail then what gets better? They would get a few years and probably be in jail just half that time and probably spend time in a “nice” jail.
For every rich kid who got in despite lack of merits its parents should be forced to generously sponsor 4-5 poor kids who can get in on their merits only. And the rich kid who got in thanks to bribing should get that written on his/her graduation form.
“XY graduated from the University of W but XY got into this university because his parents bribed the university.” Put that on the graduation form and in future parents will think twice if they should try to bribe the university.
It would only be honest and fair to say that somebody who graduated was too dumb to get in on his/her merits. Honesty!
Is Jarad Kushner on the list?
Do theses kids get to keep there spots or get expelled?
I think it depends on how much they knew, where they went, and how they got in. I think the fake sports recruits will get the boot. I think more details need to come to light about the SAT procedure to decide on that. If the grades were changed after the student left and they had no idea, they will probably stay since the role of SAT scores in admissions is a bit nebulous given how utterly useless they are in college. They’re pretty much an indication of test studying/cramming skills and most freshmen get into the groove that works for them in school.
There’s a reason why so many people have heard stories about people who got perfect scores on the SATs being rejected. Getting 5-10 more questions right on one test doesn’t indicate whether someone is going to do better than another student. Unless College Board applies pressure to preserve the image of the test as some big deciding factor (ranges matter but a 1600 is probably no better than a 1400), I doubt any school would expel an unknowing student over that test at this point in the school year. If they knew, then that becomes a matter of integrity and would lead to an expulsion.
Olivia should definitely be expelled. She and her sister knew what was going on. Entertainment Weekly highlighted the charging documents and one was an email that Lori sent to the owner of that fraud college counseling company. She complained that her daughter can’t complete the application and could someone from that office do it for her? Daughter was ccd on this email. So yeah they know.
On the other hand, since your kid hates school so much, why throw money down that hole and earn jail time to boot?
Oh, Aunt Becky…
It’s very disheartening…
I’m the mother of a recent UCBerkeley grad who was admitted ‘the old fashioned’ way: no college coach, no test prep help, no essay massaging or resume spiking. Because I’m cruel and unusual? No! Because all of that just fuels the culture of cheating we’ve created… I told my daughter I love you to the moon & back but you’ll only be truly happy at a school you can get into without that kind of hype & insanity.
This was clear to me 25 years ago when I taught as a college adjunct & worked in college admin. People were buzzing about the casual attitude toward cheating that was developing & I could see the rot was top down. It started with the parents.
Ugh. There aren’t enough words to express my disgust.
I had suspected that.
Because I know some of these “college graduates”.
Because there is this ex-girlfriend of a big big actor and I really wondered how she got into college. The girl got into a college due to her alleged sports performance (golf). She had played exactly one slightly bigger tournament and pretty much quitted pro golf after that. And that was enough to get her into Georgetown. She once said in an interview (video) that she wanted an easy study course and her college counsellor suggested acting/drama/theatre and so she did that. Guess what, that part was cut out of the video later. Now she is trying to become an actress. She was that girlfriend of that big big actor. She made one big movie in which she did dispaly her curves in the wet in a red one-piece. Occasionally she is still trying to sell herself as a former pro golf athlete.
Oh, and her daddy is rich (investment banker) and her mummy is a social butterfly charidee lady.
On second thoughts I am surprised:
When parents have the money to bribe a university and I guess that you would need a six-figured sum to do that… then why didn’t those rich parents simply pay decent tutors to tutor their children well? Learning is repetition. Not that difficult.
I’m just going for ‘they better not jail Jussie & let Huffman et al walk’. Also think about cancelling some degrees which can be done but is extreme. I really want some student who didnt get in to sue.
To quote Leonard Cohen
“Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows”
I know this is a terrible way to think, but the children of these two actresses are already set for life. I’m sure Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy are multi millionaires. And same with Lori Loughlin and Mossimo, FFS. Why go to all of this cheating to get their kids into prestigious schools? These young women have all the doors open already. From what I read, one of the Macy girls is already leaning towards acting. With her parents names the road is already paved in gold. It sounds like their other daughter is doing fine in school and could go to college anywhere. They don’t have to scam their way in to a college. Same with the Mossimo kids. They are beautiful young women who appear to be interested in a Kardashian-Jenner lifestyle. Why dishonestly shove them into college? With the parent’s connections those girls can go a bunch of different directions. Why force them to go to college when they aren’t interested in that. It’s not like Mossimo has to worry that his daughters will not have money for food or a place to live. It would make way more sense for me to try to cheat to get my kids into a fancy college because they have to work. No million dollar trust funds here.
The other thing that is a shame is this casts an ugly shadow on legacy privileges. My daughter is smart and motivated. We are not wealthy. She applied to a well known science/engineering college from which a couple generations of family members graduated. It’s a tough school to get into and she had to have the grades to prove herself first. The place where the legacy privilege helped was the offer of in state tuition and a modest scholarship. We were very appreciative but make no mistake. She had to have the smarts to get accepted. As it should be.
Her lovely young roommate is another smart gal working on a mechanical /aerospace engineering degree. In her 2nd year she found herself unable to keep pace with her classes. Through counseling she was found to have undiagnosed ADHD. School counselors helped her tremendously and the ability to be able to have extra time and a quiet location to take exams has kept her on track. She also comes from a modest background and like my daughter, is working several campus jobs and going to class to earn her degree. Being given a quiet location to take her exams should not in any way be seen as an unfair advantage. It makes me angry that this Huffman/Loughlin/Mossimo cheating casts a bad light on some programs that are meant to help honest hardworking students. Shame on these grifters. I hope their punishment is swift and meaningful to send a message.
Va tech? Is the friend from Hawaii by any chance?!
Why are there just 2 people who got hold accountable?
Both Huffman and Loughling are famous. what about the non-famous who got their kids in with the help of a big paycheque?