https://www.scmp.com/rss/500698/feed A criminal conspiracy to influence admissions to elite American universities was revealed in March 2019 when US federal prosecutors filed charges against at least 50 people, after a year-long investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues”. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com If you needed a reminder that Jacob Elordi is taken, the Saltburn star was recently seen with his girlfriend Olivia Jade Giannulli on their way to celebrate her sister Isabella “Bella” Rose Giannulli’s 26th birthday. The party was held at LA hotspot Funke, with the girls’ mother, Lori Loughlin, also there. The sisters and their parents were involved a US college admissions bribery scandal in 2019. While Olivia Jade has an active social media presence, thanks to her YouTube career, Isabella Rose... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3279550/meet-isabella-rose-youtuber-olivia-jade-giannullis-sister-her-mum-lori-loughlin-who-was-jailed-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/entertainment/article/3279550/meet-isabella-rose-youtuber-olivia-jade-giannullis-sister-her-mum-lori-loughlin-who-was-jailed-us?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2024 10:00:12 +0000 The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions bribery scheme that ensnared celebrities, prominent businesspeople and other parents who used their wealth and privilege to buy their children’s way into top-tier schools was sentenced to 3½ years in prison on Wednesday. The punishment for Rick Singer, 62, is the longest sentence handed down in the sprawling scandal that embarrassed some of the nation’s most prestigious universities and put a spotlight on the secretive admissions system already... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3205616/us-college-scam-mastermind-rick-singer-gets-35-years-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3205616/us-college-scam-mastermind-rick-singer-gets-35-years-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 04 Jan 2023 20:54:36 +0000 Two parents accused of cheating to get their children into elite US universities were found guilty of all charges, in the first trial stemming from a national college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of families. Former Wynn Resorts executive Gamal Abdelaziz, 64, was convicted on Friday of two counts of conspiracy by a Boston jury after prosecutors alleged he paid US$300,000 in bribes to get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a purported basketball player.  Private... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3151743/two-wealthy-parents-found-guilty-first-varsity?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3151743/two-wealthy-parents-found-guilty-first-varsity?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Oct 2021 20:50:18 +0000 Full House actress Lori Loughlin was released from prison Monday after spending two months behind bars for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into college. Loughlin was released from the federal lock-up in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scheme, the federal Bureau of Prisons said. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is serving his five-month sentence at a prison in Lompoc near... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3115611/actress-lori-loughlin-released-after-two-months?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3115611/actress-lori-loughlin-released-after-two-months?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Dec 2020 20:58:11 +0000 A Chinese-born US tech tycoon and Harvard’s former fencing coach were arrested on Monday on accusations that the coach accepted US$1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into the Ivy League school as recruited fencers. Peter Brand, 67, who was fired by Harvard last year, and Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, a naturalised US citizen based in Potomac, Maryland, face a charge of conspiracy to commit federal programmes bribery. Their arrest comes more than a year after a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3110104/tycoon-jie-jack-zhao-and-harvard-coach-peter-brand?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3110104/tycoon-jie-jack-zhao-and-harvard-coach-peter-brand?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Nov 2020 17:27:58 +0000 Authorities say Full House actress Lori Loughlin has reported to a federal prison in California to begin serving her two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal. The US Attorney’s office in Boston said on Friday that Loughlin was being processed at the federal prison in Dublin, California. “The parties recently agreed that the defendant can report to prison on October 30, 2020, instead of on November 19, 2020. The defendant has further agreed that, during her two... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3107888/actress-lori-loughlin-reports-california-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3107888/actress-lori-loughlin-reports-california-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Oct 2020 19:02:43 +0000 Actress Lori Loughlin, who maintained her innocence for 16 months, will plead guilty to fraud in the college admissions scandal, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court. Loughlin was arrested in March 2019 and charged with conspiring with William “Rick” Singer, a Newport Beach consultant at the heart of the admissions scandal, to pass off her two daughters, Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Rose Giannulli, as promising rowing recruits, all but guaranteeing their admission to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3085520/actress-lori-loughlin-plead-guilty-college?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3085520/actress-lori-loughlin-plead-guilty-college?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 May 2020 13:48:00 +0000 A woman charged in the college admissions scandal pleaded guilty on Friday to paying US$400,000 to get her son into the University of California, Los Angeles, as a fake soccer recruit. Xiaoning Sui, 49, a Chinese citizen who lives in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, pleaded guilty to a single count of federal programmes bribery in Boston’s federal court. The charge is used in cases of bribery at organisations that received at least US$10,000 in federal funding in a single year. In this case,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3051884/college-admissions-scam-chinese-mum-xiaoning-sui?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3051884/college-admissions-scam-chinese-mum-xiaoning-sui?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Feb 2020 22:30:28 +0000 Both prosecutors and lawyers for Xiaoning Sui, a Chinese mother detained in Madrid on charges of securing her son’s admission to UCLA through bribery, have proposed she spend no additional time in prison once she is extradited to the United States, according to court records and her lawyer. Sui, 48, a Chinese national and resident of British Columbia, Canada, will plead guilty to a single count of federal programme bribery, according to a plea agreement filed in US federal court. She was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3048142/us-college-admissions-scam-chinese-mum-xiaoning-sui?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3048142/us-college-admissions-scam-chinese-mum-xiaoning-sui?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jan 2020 18:14:35 +0000 Actress Felicity Huffman was released on Friday morning from a federal prison in California two days before the end of a two-week sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal, authorities said. The Desperate Housewives star was released from the low-security prison for women because under prison policy, inmates scheduled for weekend release are let out on Friday, the US Bureau of Prisons said. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, dropped off Huffman – aka inmate No 77806-112 – at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3034674/admissions-scandal-felicity-huffman-gets-early?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3034674/admissions-scandal-felicity-huffman-gets-early?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2019 21:28:16 +0000 Full House actress Lori Loughlin, her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, and nine other parents faced new federal charges on Tuesday as prosecutors pressured them to acknowledge their guilt in a scheme involving dozens of wealthy parents accused of bribing their children into elite universities or cheating on college entrance exams. A grand jury in Boston indicted the parents on charges of trying to bribe officials at an organisation that receives at least US$10,000 in federal funding.... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3034125/actress-lori-loughlin-faces-new-charges-us-college?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3034125/actress-lori-loughlin-faces-new-charges-us-college?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Oct 2019 21:51:39 +0000 A Chinese woman was arrested in Spain and charged with paying the mastermind of the college admissions scandal US$400,000 to ensure her son was admitted to the University of California, Los Angeles as a phoney soccer player. Xiaoning Sui - whom prosecutors identified as a 48-year-old “Chinese national” and a resident of Surrey in British Columbia, Canada - was arrested by Spanish authorities Monday night, according to the US attorney’s office in Massachusetts, which is seeking Sui’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027766/canadian-mom-xiaoning-sui-arrested-spain-accused?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027766/canadian-mom-xiaoning-sui-arrested-spain-accused?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Sep 2019 21:42:25 +0000 Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman was sentenced on Friday to 14 days in prison for paying US$15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT scores in the college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy and well-connected parents. Huffman, 56, became the first of 34 parents to be sentenced in the case. She was also given a US$30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and a year of supervised release. Before sentencing, she tearfully described her daughter asking why Huffman did not trust... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027217/desperate-housewives-star-felicity-huffman-jailed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3027217/desperate-housewives-star-felicity-huffman-jailed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 13 Sep 2019 20:31:22 +0000 A former Stanford University sailing coach was sentenced on Wednesday to a single day behind bars for racketeering conspiracy in the college admissions bribery scandal. But the federal judge in the case said the one-day term for John Vandemoer would be deemed already served. She also imposed a US$10,000 fine and two years of supervised release, including six months of home confinement. Vandemoer became the first person sentenced in the Varsity Blues case, out of 50 the federal government... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3014268/ex-stanford-sailing-coach-john-vandemoer-sentenced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3014268/ex-stanford-sailing-coach-john-vandemoer-sentenced?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jun 2019 20:41:01 +0000 William “Rick” Singer was well into orchestrating an elaborate bribery and cheating scheme to slip his clients’ children into elite colleges when he sat down for a deposition in Washington in 2016. Asked why he should be considered an expert in the field of college admissions, Singer outlined his credentials: He had worked on admissions committees for UCLA, the University of Miami, the University of California, Davis and other colleges, helping to decide which students should be offered... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3011839/rick-singer-faked-students-cvs-college-admission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3011839/rick-singer-faked-students-cvs-college-admission?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 May 2019 21:37:47 +0000 Actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty on Monday to paying to rig a college-entrance exam for her daughter, part of a wide-ranging scandal in which wealthy parents used bribery and fraud to secure their children spots at prominent US universities. The one-time star of the television series Desperate Housewives pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to a conspiracy charge related to her payment of US$15,000 to have someone secretly correct her daughter’s answers on the SAT exam. She is among... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3010076/hollywood-star-felicity-huffman-pleads-guilty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3010076/hollywood-star-felicity-huffman-pleads-guilty?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 May 2019 19:56:48 +0000 “Those more outstanding than you also work harder.” This is a trendy aspirational phrase in China in the digital era, meant to remind people who do not come from well-to-do families that the only way they can catch up is by working hard. Had the Stanford University admissions scandal involving, among others, sophomore Zhao “Molly” Yusi not made headlines, she would still be looked up to as living testimony of how diligence alone pays off in the end. But last week, the fairy tale unraveled. It... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/us-college-admissions-bribery-scandal-cautionary-tale-crazy-rich-chinese/article/3009486?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/us-college-admissions-bribery-scandal-cautionary-tale-crazy-rich-chinese/article/3009486?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 May 2019 09:24:59 +0000 “Those more outstanding than you also work harder.” This is a trendy aspirational phrase in China in the digital era, meant to remind people who do not come from well-to-do families that the only way they can catch up is by working hard. Had the Stanford University admissions scandal involving, among others, sophomore Zhao Yusi not made headlines, she would still be looked up to as living testimony of how diligence alone pays off in the end.  But last week, the fairy tale unravelled. It turned... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009203/stanford-admissions-scandal-cautionary-tale-crazy-rich?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3009203/stanford-admissions-scandal-cautionary-tale-crazy-rich?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 May 2019 19:00:13 +0000 All mothers are special, of course, as we are about to be reminded with the coming of Mother’s Day this Sunday. Not everyone gets to have their own annual day (not surprisingly, there’s none for newspaper opinion writers, for example) and, heaven knows, mothers do deserve this annual ritualistic swelling of our guilt glands. This year, with my own mother having passed away long ago, I began to think about admirable, living mothers – indeed, to propose whom one might plausibly celebrate as... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3008964/why-mum-stanford-admissions-scandal-student-yusi-zhao?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/3008964/why-mum-stanford-admissions-scandal-student-yusi-zhao?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 May 2019 19:00:07 +0000 A video shot in 2017 of Zhao Yusi, the Chinese student whose family paid US$6.5 million for her fraudulent admission to Stanford University, has gone viral on social media. In it, she claims she was accepted because of her “hard work”. In the 90-minute video, made when she was 17, Zhao offered viewers advice on getting into prestigious American universities while admitting that her “natural IQ isn’t particularly high”. “I want to tell everyone that getting into Stanford isn’t just a dream. You... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008787/hard-work-got-me-stanford-university-chinese-student-us65?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008787/hard-work-got-me-stanford-university-chinese-student-us65?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 03 May 2019 13:00:11 +0000 The fired Morgan Stanley financial adviser who introduced a wealthy Chinese family to the mastermind of the unfolding college admissions cheating scandal plans legal action to clear his name, his lawyer told the South China Morning Post on Thursday. Michael Wu’s lawyer said that his client had been misled about a US$6.5 million payment the family made to ensure that their child gained admission to Stanford University. Wu, who worked for the financial services firm in Pasadena, California, was... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008652/fired-morgan-stanley-financial-adviser-seeks-clear?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008652/fired-morgan-stanley-financial-adviser-seeks-clear?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 May 2019 21:54:39 +0000 Sherry Guo came to California five years ago, a teenager from China with dreams of attending an elite university. Her lawyer does not dispute she got into Yale through the machinations of William “Rick” Singer, a Newport Beach consultant who defrauded the Ivy League school and similarly selective universities with bribes, rigged tests and bogus accolades. Singer fashioned a fake application for Guo that described her as a top-notch soccer player, which was submitted to Yale by a soccer coach who... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008649/chinese-teenager-sherry-guos-parents-paid-us12?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3008649/chinese-teenager-sherry-guos-parents-paid-us12?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 May 2019 20:22:48 +0000 A Chinese family allegedly paid the mastermind of a college admissions cheating scheme US$6.5 million to assure their child’s admission to Stanford University, US news media reported on Wednesday. The payment is thought to be the largest one made by parents who employed William “Rick” Singer, the owner of the Edge College & Career Network, to secure their children’s admissions into elite US universities. The scheme was revealed in March when federal prosecutors, after a year-long investigation... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008500/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-us65-million-fixer-admission?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3008500/chinese-family-reportedly-paid-us65-million-fixer-admission?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 May 2019 22:29:08 +0000 Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin appeared in federal court alongside other wealthy parents on Wednesday to face charges in the college bribery scandal that has roiled the world of admissions and amplified complaints the system is stacked in favour of the rich. The two actresses and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, said little during the hearing in a packed Boston courtroom and were not asked to enter a plea. They remain free on bail. Several other parents... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004573/hollywood-stars-lori-loughlin-and-felicity-huffman?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3004573/hollywood-stars-lori-loughlin-and-felicity-huffman?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Apr 2019 21:06:54 +0000 Most parents want a better life for their children, and a good education at the best schools is often seen as the way to secure it. Some are willing to shell out vast sums of money to make sure their offspring go to the world’s top educational institutions. The phenomenon has been in the spotlight recently after almost 50 people, including Hollywood actresses, were charged over an alleged US$25 million scam to help wealthy Americans get their children into elite universities. Education systems... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3003166/american-university-admissions-scandal-should-make-hong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3003166/american-university-admissions-scandal-should-make-hong?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Mar 2019 09:11:24 +0000 Federal prosecutors in the United States on March 12 charged 50 people – including Hollywood celebrities and business big names – over an admissions scandal to get their children into prestigious schools. The breadth and audacity of the scandal has aroused public ire about the fairness of college admissions. However, the discourse has exacerbated the vulnerability of Asian-Americans, the most unfairly treated ethnic group so far in college admission. The Asian-American Coalition for Education, a... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/world/article/3003000/college-admissions-scandal-highlights-vulnerability?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/world/article/3003000/college-admissions-scandal-highlights-vulnerability?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Mar 2019 11:15:59 +0000 Having heard the news on the American college admissions scandal I, like many others, felt outraged. I was lost for words over the extent to which people abuse their privilege and use money to rob others of opportunities and experiences. I understand that they remain allegations – nearly 50 people, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, have been charged in what authorities say was a US$25 million racketeering scheme to help wealthy Americans get their children into top US... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/3001854/us-college-admissions-scandal-outrageous?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/3001854/us-college-admissions-scandal-outrageous?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 18 Mar 2019 01:00:10 +0000 The US college admissions scandal that erupted this week has spawned lawsuits accusing rich, well-connected parents and prestigious schools of conspiring to admit those parents’ children at the expense of the less affluent. Lawsuits began emerging on Wednesday, a day after federal prosecutors said a California company made about US$25 million from parents wanting spots for their children in top schools including Georgetown University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3001782/spurned-students-sue-us-colleges-over-admissions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3001782/spurned-students-sue-us-colleges-over-admissions?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Mar 2019 02:05:41 +0000 When I was in high school in New Zealand, I decided that I wanted to go to university in the United States. I contacted members of the Ivy League and a few other colleges and asked them to send me their application forms. (This was in 1999, when you couldn’t do everything online yet). Then I signed up to take the SAT and ordered such prep books as I could find on Amazon. My parents had a spare room next to our garage that smelled of exhaust fumes every time they came back with the car. In there,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3001501/forget-felicity-huffman-bribes-arent-real-scandal-us-college?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3001501/forget-felicity-huffman-bribes-arent-real-scandal-us-college?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 13 Mar 2019 11:00:08 +0000