His sentencing is the capstone in the years-long investigation and prosecution of Singer and more than 50 co-conspirators, and puts the focus back on what has and has not changed since the scandal broke open in March 2019.
Singer, 62, pleaded guilty to raking in some $25 million by selling what he liked to call “a side door” into elite universities such as Yale, Georgetown and USC to dozens of clients, from actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin to business titans and big-shot lawyers.
“We help the wealthiest families in the U.S. get their kids in school,” Singer bragged as he pitched one of his clients on a call recorded by the FBI. “They want guarantees. They want this thing done.”
His scheme involved, for instance, bribing college coaches to take students as athletic recruits, even if they were mediocre or had never even played the sport. Singer would just make up a totally fake resume, complete with a student’s face photoshopped onto an image of a real athlete. His menu of cheating services also included fixing students’ wrong answers on their college admissions tests or having someone take the test in their place.
“I can make scores happen that nobody on the planet can get to happen,” he boasted on that recorded call. As was his routine, Singer told the client that his kids would have no chance of getting into their preferred schools without him and leaned heavily on the “everyone’s doing it” pitch.
When Singer said the testing scam costs $75,000,…
