Report: College coaches, Hollywood actresses charged in college entrance exam fraud
At many elite academic schools, entrance requirements are relaxed for athletes.
That, unfortunately, creates a loophole that some can exploit, as is apparently the case at many big-name institutions. On Tuesday morning, that scandal came crashing down, though.
Per a report from NBC News, more than 40 people have been indicted in a scheme that involved faking college entrance exams and creating false athletic profiles. Per Tom Winter, a pair of Hollywood actresses have been charged, too:
BREAKING / NBC NEWS: Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are two of over 40 people charged in the college exam scheme, according to court documents.
They are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. https://t.co/vLfjUuOpHA
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) March 12, 2019
While it is unlikely that this scandal will involve any high-level basketball or football coaches, it does have the potential to be interesting. For example, here’s what Yahoo!’s Pat Forde says Loughlin is accused of doing:
Documents say the Loughlin and her husband "agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC."
— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) March 12, 2019
There does appear to be at least one football player involved, though it’s unknown what school he attended:
— Jack Dickey (@jackdickey) March 12, 2019
Here are some of the coaches who have been indicted:
https://twitter.com/aaron_leib/status/1105485811443736576
No SEC schools were listed in the report, which included Georgetown, UCLA, Stanford, USC, Texas, Wake Forest, Yale and more. There is no evidence that the schools knew about the scam.
