Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, CEOs Arrested in College Admissions Cheating Scam

**redcat** · March 12th, 2019, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by teforde23

I wouldn't be surprised if the only one in Hollywood that deserves to get into college was Mayim Bialik

It's not fair to people who might've got there by their own merits. Probably Ema Watson is really interested in English literature. After all it's related to her job. It's not like English literature is rocket science. Or Venus Williams got her degree in business administration in her 30s, it also makes sense as she had her own clothing line and wanted to learn more about business.
On the other hand the admission system allows all sort of shortcuts.

**needmeds** · March 12th, 2019, 03:11 PM

The fall semester at her school began on Aug. 20; a day later, Ms. Jade announced on Twitter that she had just arrived in Fiji. In a YouTube video, she said that she had gone for work.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/s...core-ios-share

**MohandasKGanja** · March 12th, 2019, 03:17 PM

I wonder what she's going to do with her unnecessary return ticket?

**CornFlakegrl** · March 12th, 2019, 03:56 PM

Originally Posted by idunno

How wdumb is your kid that you have to pay 6 mill. just to get in. You'd think that kind of money could buy you a degree.

At that price, just give your kid the money. That's more than he/she would earn with a degree anyway so what's the point of pretending they have a degree?

**teforde23** · March 12th, 2019, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by CornFlakegrl

At that price, just give your kid the money. That's more than he/she would earn with a degree anyway so what's the point of pretending they have a degree?

The parents ego

**Duchess of Verona** · March 12th, 2019, 04:28 PM

As the mother of an 11th grader, it's not that easy to cheat at the ACT or SAT. When you register, you have to upload a picture and you have to appear with (presumably forged) government issued id. And you have to find someone young enough to convincingly pass for 16, who can ace the test, and is willing to cheat and risk prison with forged id.

**MohandasKGanja** · March 12th, 2019, 04:47 PM

Originally Posted by Duchess of Verona

As the mother of an 11th grader, it's not that easy to cheat at the ACT or SAT. When you register, you have to upload a picture and you have to appear with (presumably forged) government issued id. And you have to find someone young enough to convincingly pass for 16, who can ace the test, and is willing to cheat and risk prison with forged id.

They seem to have had someone on the inside though:

Niki Williams, 44, of Houston, Texas, assistant teacher at a Houston high school and test administrator for the College Board and ACT.

**czb** · March 12th, 2019, 05:00 PM

yup.

and i bet they start uncovering more schemers.

**MohandasKGanja** · March 12th, 2019, 05:06 PM

Originally Posted by czb

yup.

and i bet they start uncovering more schemers.

How the SAT/ACT scam worked:

To facilitate the scam, Singer counseled parents to take their children to a therapist and get a letter saying that because of purported learning disabilities or other issues, the child needed additional time to complete the ACT or the SAT. Once the companies that administer those exams had agreed to the extra time, Singer arranged for the child to take the exam individually with one of the administrators he had bribed, either at a location in Houston or a location in California," Lelling said.

Court documents state parents would pay Singer between $15,000 and $75,000 to have another person, usually a Palmetto, Florida, resident named Mark Riddell, take the exams for the students or to replace the students' exam responses with his own.

**czb** · March 12th, 2019, 05:22 PM

here are more deets, from msnbc.com:

...
Singer facilitated the cheating by advising students to seek "extended time on the exams, including by having their children purport to have learning disabilities in order to obtain medical documentation that ACT, Inc. and the College Board typically required before granting students extended time," the indictment says.

Prosecutors said Singer used the cash to bribe two people who administered the exams — Igor Dvorsiky, of Los Angeles, and Lisa "Niki" Williams, of Houston.
In exchange for receiving the payments, Dvorsiky and Williams allowed Mark Riddell, a Florida man hired by Singer, to secretly take the tests or to replace the children’s answers with his own, according to the indictment.
Riddell was paid roughly $10,000 per test, money that was often funneled through a charity account set up by Singer, the indictment says.

....

i bet they start disclosing more dirt.

**Daphne** · March 12th, 2019, 05:22 PM

Damn, Aunt Becky got busted. I wonder if she'll play herself in the TV movie.

**czb** · March 12th, 2019, 05:23 PM

i'm sure that her husband will design a flattering orange jumpsuit.

**MohandasKGanja** · March 12th, 2019, 05:26 PM

Bil checking in to the Roybal Federal Building in LA to bail out Felicity. So surreal.....

**happy8** · March 12th, 2019, 05:32 PM

The amount of money some of these people paid is astronomical. On top of tuition.... Unreal!

What happened to the good old days of donating a large sum to said college and their offspring are in, etc. Wow, just wow!

I haven't read the documents yet, but if Feds are involved.... they best be asking Martha how her stay was. You aren't getting out of federal indictments. Yikes.