The Origin of Inquiry into College Admission Scam

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(1) Melissa Korn, Zusha Elinson, Sadie Gurman and Jennifer Levitz, Topster Helped Feds Crack S[rawling College Fraud Case. Wall Street Journal, Mar 14, 2019 (front page).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... raveled-11552524237

Quote:

first 2 1/2 paragraphs (serving as a summary): "Federal authorities were pursuing a securities fraud case last spring when a person involved, a financial executive hoping for leniency, said he had information of great interest on another matter, according to people familiar with the investigation.  The executive told investigators that the head women’s soccer coach at Yale University had sought a bribe in return for getting his daughter admitted to the Ivy League school, a person familiar with the investigation said.  Authorities zeroed in on the coach, who began cooperating * * *

"The initial FBI tip led investigators to Rudy Meredith. the head coach of women's soccer at Yale. He had worked with [mastermind William 'Rick'] Singer in January 2018 to get the daughter of a California family into Yale by pretending she was a soccer player, according to prosecutors. The family paid Mr Singer $1.2 million, according to the affidavit ['affidavit released in Boston this week']; Mr Meredith's share was $400,000.The family wasn't identified [in the indictment].

"In April, Mr Meredith met with the tipster parent [different from the one described in the preceding sentence; this one from Massachusetts (see Globe)[, who was wearing a wire, at a hotel room in Boston, the person familiar with the matter said. During the meeting, <r Meredith offered a [;ace at Yale for the parent's daughter in exchange for $450,000, according to the person and court documents. Afterward, Mr Meredith began cooperating, authorities said. The tipster parent has not been charged in the college case.   The multiagency defedal investigation, named Operation Varsity Blues, received court approval to tap Mr Singer's phone in June.  

(2) Milton J Valencia and Shelley Murphy, Investigation of One Scheme Led Prosecutors to Another/ Boston Globe, Mar 14, 2019 (front page).
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metr ... Us3yUkKP/story.html

Quote:

(a) the first four paragraphs:

"It started, improbably, with a securities fraud investigation out of Boston, a so-called pump-and-dump stock scam that extended overseas.

"FBI agents and federal prosecutors quickly homed in on a financial executive, according to several people familiar with the case, who said he was willing to cooperate with authorities. He also offered investigators a tantalizing tip, one entirely unrelated to stock prices — a Yale University women’s soccer coach had asked him for a bribe to help get his daughter admitted into the elite school.

"By April 2018, the executive was wearing a recording device for the FBI when he met with coach Rudolph 'Rudy' Meredith in a hotel room in Boston. For a payment of $450,000, Meredith said, he would be willing to designate the executive’s daughter as a recruit for the team, all but guaranteeing her acceptance. Meredith left with a $2,000 down payment, court records say.

" With that, a low-profile securities investigation had led authorities to uncovering a massive college admissions scandal, a brazen plot in which wealthy parents allegedly schemed to bribe sports coaches at top colleges to admit their children.

(b) "Four persons described the origins of the investigation to the Globe under condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

(c) "At least two of the defendants have ties to Massachusetts. John B Wilson, a 59-year-old investor with homes in Hyannis Port and Lynnfield [both in Massachusetts], allegedly paid $220,000 to get his son into the University of Southern California in 2014, and another $1 million last year to try to get his daughter into Stanford and Harvard.

"Also, Gordon Ernest, a former tennis head coach at Georgetown University, has a vacation home in Massachusetts. Many of the other defendants live in California.

"Under federal laws, prosecutors have loose authority to bring charges in any venue, even if the alleged crime have connections to other districts. But [United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew] Lelling said the alleged conspiracy also had several ties to Massachusetts.

"Several of the students who parents alleged made payments to Singer had applied to Boston University, Boston College, and Northeastern University. pnot in the indictment, and hence not involving scams]. Several phone calls and meeting, including one at the hotel in April 2018, took place in Massachusetts.

"Moreover, authorities [deliberately] established a fictitious bank account in Boston, where a number of parents sent money at Singer's direction. The case is being handled by prosecutors in Boston and who pursued the tip from the defendant in the stock scam.

"In that case, several people were charged last year with securities fraud for artificially inflating the value of stocks. The executive who provided the tip is not identified in the court records for the admissions case.

(3) Joey Garrison, A Yale soccer coach caught in a sting: How the FBI broke open the sweeping college admission scandal. USA Today, Mar 14, 2019 (published online only).
https://www.usatoday.com/story/n ... eredith/3160494002/

Note: The first two reports are locked behind paywall. There is no need to read the rest of the text.