‘Varsity Blues’: fresh charges against parents and coaches

US prosecutors have increased the charges and potential penalties against a group of parents and coaches named in the nationwide college admissions scandal who have not already chosen to plead guilty in the case.

In new indictments approved by federal grand juries, 11 parents, five former university sports team leaders and two other officials were hit with new bribery and fraud counts related to their alleged efforts to help students win undeserved admissions to elite colleges.

The enhanced charges did not include any fundamentally new allegations since the original indictments and arrests in March, and were largely described by defence attorneys as an effort to boost pressure on their clients.

The chief federal prosecutor on the case, Andrew Lelling, lent credence to that perception by issuing a brief statement that offered no reason of law for the additional grand jury indictments.

“Our goal from the beginning has been to hold the defendants fully accountable for corrupting the college admissions process through cheating, bribery and fraud,” Mr Lelling said.

All 11 of the parents – including Hollywood actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli – were associated with admissions efforts involving the University of Southern California.

The five re-indicted university officials were sports coaches and an athletic director who worked at USC, Georgetown University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Wake Forest University. The two others included in the new indictment are an administrator who handled standardised admissions tests, and an employee of William Singer, the alleged mastermind of the case who has been cooperating with prosecutors for months.

The case centres on a wide-ranging effort by Mr Singer to allegedly coordinate falsified representations of sports prowess and cheating on admissions tests, with bribes ranging from tens of thousands to several million dollars.

Four other parents chose to plead guilty in recent days rather than be part of the new indictment, federal prosecutors said. Altogether more than two dozen of the original 50-plus defendants – including at least 15 parents – have agreed to plead guilty in the case.

The parents and others who admitted guilt have mostly been receiving prison sentences ranging from a few weeks to a few months. They include another actress, Felicity Huffman, who is serving a 14-day sentence at a minimum-security prison near San Francisco.

Defendants who go to trial are known to face the risk of harsher sentences. Describing the new charges, Mr Lelling’s office emphasised the possibility of conviction meaning up to 20 years in prison. But maximum sentences are unlikely for first-time offenders, and some defence attorneys have insisted that their clients aren’t guilty and that prosecutors are trying to intimidate them.

Adding the new charges “seems to be vindictive and intended to discourage our clients and others from exercising their constitutional right to a fair trial”, one attorney representing parents, Patric Hooper, told CNN.

USC acknowledged this week that two of the most famous students caught up in the case, the celebrity daughters of Ms Loughlin and Mr Giannulli, were no longer attending the university. The daughters, like many of the students involved in the case, were not believed to be aware of the allegedly illegal efforts by their parents to boost their college applications.

The National Association for College Admission Counseling announced last week that, in response to the scandal, it has prepared a 35-minute online course for a range of college officials on ethical behaviour in student recruitment.

The idea, said the association’s chief executive officer, Joyce Smith, was to provide administrators and staff with “advance knowledge of legal boundaries that, if crossed, can lead to serious consequences for themselves and their institutions”.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com