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BOSTON — Fifty people, including Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, were charged Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents allegedly bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the nation’s most elite schools.
Federal authorities called it the biggest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department, with the parents accused of paying an estimated $25 million in bribes.
“These parents are a catalog of wealth and privilege,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in announcing the results of an investigation code-named Operation Varsity Blues.
A lawyer for a consultant who admitted to running the bribery scheme says his client intends to fully cooperate with federal prosecutors.
Attorney Donald Heller told reporters that William “Rick” Singer is “remorseful and contrite and wants to move on with his life.” Heller says Singer is “relieved that this part is over.”
Authorities say parents paid Singer large sums to bribe coaches and administrators to help get their children into elite universities.
The scandal is certain to inflame longstanding complaints that children of the wealthy and well-connected have the inside track in college admissions — sometimes through big, timely donations from their parents — and that privilege begets privilege.
