Two Americans were found guilty of bribery in Boston for paying a total of $ 2 million to enroll their children in universities.
Two Americans were found guilty of corruption on Friday in Boston for paying a total of $ 2 million to enroll their children in universities in the United States, the latest episode in a scandal that erupted in 2019.
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A Boston federal court jury found financier John Wilson and former Las Vegas casino manager Gamal Abdelaziz, both in their sixties, guilty of “fraud” and paying “bribes”, he said. the Massachusetts federal prosecutor announced in a press release after a month-long trial. Their sentences will be pronounced in February.
At the heart of this system of corruption is the former boss of a California company specializing in exam preparation, William Singer. He pleaded guilty, collaborated with the justice system and admitted having set up a well-established machine: cheating in exams and bribing sports coaches to guarantee the entry of children from wealthy backgrounds into prestigious, very expensive and hyperselective universities, like Yale, Stanford, Georgetown or UCLA.
About fifty people including 33 parents are involved
Singer is said to have received a total of $ 25 million from parents. Among them, the financier John Wilson, of Massachusetts, had paid him some $ 220,000 in 2013 to have his son admitted to the University of Southern California (USC) by fabricating fake water polo diplomas and medals. Mr. Wilson then went further. He had paid $ 1.5 million in 2018 to bring his two daughters to Harvard and Stanford, under the pretext of being so-called accomplished athletes in sailing.
As for Mr. Abdelaziz, he was found guilty of paying Mr. Singer $ 300,000 in 2017 to bring his daughter into USC by claiming that she played basketball when she was not. had never done. About fifty people, including 33 parents, have been involved since March 2019 in this scandal which splashes into very wealthy and privileged families of the economic elite and of the “jet-set” in the United States.
Among them, actresses Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) and Lori Loughlin (“House Party”). The latter served two months in prison in 2020 after admitting with her husband to having paid half a million dollars to bring their daughters to USC. Felicity Huffman had spent 11 days in a California prison in October 2019 after acknowledging the payment of $ 15,000 to improve her daughter’s exam results. No student and no university are being prosecuted in this case.
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