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The full list of people charged in the college admissions cheating scandal, and who has pleaded guilty so far

Sep 15, 2021, 22:50 IST
Insider
Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were both charged in connection with the scheme. AP Photo
  • Prosecutors have charged dozens of people with participating in the college admissions scandal.
  • The parents charged include the actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
  • Coaches and test administrators were also among the people charged. Here's the full list.
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More than 50 people have been charged with participating in the college admissions scandal, a scheme involving bribery, money laundering, and document fabrication to unfairly get students admitted to elite colleges.

Court documents reviewed by Insider said the scheme included bribing college athletic coaches to recruit students regardless of their athletic ability, as well as cheating on entrance exams.

Prosecutors said the scheme was led by William Singer, a college-prep professional. He has pleaded guilty.

"Parents paid Singer approximately $25 million to bribe coaches and university administrators to designate their children as purported athletic recruits, thereby facilitating the children's' admission to those universities," the Department of Justice said in a March 2019 press release.

Dozens of wealthy people, including celebrities and CEOs of public and private companies, were charged.

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Here's the full list of people charged and how they were described in charging documents - as well as who has pleaded guilty in the scheme:

College athletics

  • Gordon Ernst: the head men's and women's tennis coach at Georgetown University. He agreed to plead guilty in September 2021.
  • Donna Heinel: a senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California.
  • Ali Khosroshahin: the head women's soccer coach at USC. He pleaded guilty in June 2019.
  • Laura Janke: an assistant women's soccer coach at USC. She pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Jovan Vavic: a water-polo coach at USC.
  • Jorge Salcedo: the head men's soccer coach at UCLA. He pleaded guilty in July 2020.
  • William Ferguson: the women's volleyball coach at Wake Forest University.
  • Michael Center: the head men's tennis coach at the University of Texas at Austin. He pleaded guilty in April 2019 and plans to cooperate with prosecutors.
  • Rudy Meredith: the head women's soccer coach at Yale. Meredith was the first to plead guilty, shortly after the charges were first filed in March 2019.
  • John Vandemoer: the sailing coach at Stanford. He pleaded guilty in March 2019.

College admissions and school administration

  • William Rick Singer: the owner of the Edge College & Career Network and CEO of the Key Worldwide Foundation. He pleaded guilty in March 2019.
  • Lisa "Niki" Williams: an assistant teacher at a high school in Houston who administered College Board and ACT tests. She agreed to plead guilty in August 2020.
  • Martin Fox: the president of a private tennis academy in Houston. He pleaded guilty in October 2019.
  • Igor Dvorskiy: the director of a private school in Los Angeles who administered College Board and ACT tests. He pleaded guilty in November 2019.
  • Steven Masera: an employee of the Edge College & Career Network and the KWF. He pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Mikaela Sanford: an employee of the Edge College & Career Network and the KWF. She agreed to plead guilty in August 2020.
  • Mark Riddell: a counselor at a private school in Florida. He was accused of taking college entrance exams in place of students and correcting students' answers after they had taken the exam. He pleaded guilty in April 2019.

Parents

  • Gregory Abbott: the founder and chairman of the International Dispensing Corporation, a food-packaging and research company. Abbott pleaded guilty in April 2019.
  • Marcia Abbott: Abbott's wife. Abbott pleaded guilty along with her husband.
  • Gamal Abdelaziz: a hotel and casino executive who has worked for Wynn Resorts.
  • Todd Blake: an entrepreneur and investor. He agreed to plead guilty in July 2020.
  • Diane Blake: a co-founder and executive of Winston Retail Solutions, a retail marketing firm. She agreed to plead guilty in July 2020.
  • Jeffrey Bizzack: A California resident who paid $250,000 to get his son into USC. He pleaded guilty in July 2019.
  • Jane Buckingham: the founder and CEO of Trendera, a boutique marketing firm. Buckingham pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Gordon Caplan: a co-chairman of the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Caplan agreed to plead guilty in April 2019. He formally did so in court in May 2019.
  • I-Hin "Joey" Chen: a shipping-industry service provider in California.
  • Gregory Colburn: a physician in California.
  • Amy Colburn: Colburn's wife.
  • Peter Dameris: the former CEO of ASGN Incorporated. He agreed to plead guilty in May 2020.
  • Robert Flaxman: the president and CEO of Crown Realty & Development, a real-estate firm in California. Flaxman pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Lori Loughlin: a "Full House" actress. Loughlin pleaded not guilty in April 2019 but switched her plea to guilty in May 2020.
  • Mossimo Giannulli: Loughlin's husband and the owner and fashion designer of the Mossimo clothing brand. Giannulli pleaded not guilty in April 2019 but switched her plea to guilty in May 2020.
  • Mark Hauser: An insurance and private equity executive in California. He agreed to plead guilty in August 2020.
  • Manuel Henriquez: the founder, chairman, and CEO of Hercules Capital, an investment firm. He pleaded guilty in October 2019.
  • Elizabeth Henriquez: Henriquez's wife. She pleaded guilty in October 2019.
  • Douglas Hodge: an investor with positions at multiple major California investment firms who was formerly the CEO of Pimco. He pleaded guilty in October 2019.
  • Felicity Huffman: the "Desperate Housewives" and "American Crime" actress. Huffman pleaded guilty in April 2019. She did so formally in court in May 2019.
  • Agustin Huneeus: a California vineyard owner. Huneeus pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Bruce Isackson: the president of WP Investments, a California real-estate firm. Isackson pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government's investigation, the Justice Department announced in April 2019.
  • Davina Isackson: Isackson's wife. Isackson pleaded guilty and is also cooperating with the Justice Department, the department announced.
  • Michelle Janavs: a former executive at a food manufacturer. She pleaded guilty in October 2019.
  • Elisabeth Kimmel: the president of Midwest Televisions, a media company. She pleaded in August 2021.
  • Marjorie Klapper: a jewelry-business owner in California. Klapper pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Amin Khoury: A businessman who splits his time between Massachusetts and Florida.
  • Karen Littlefair: an interior designer from Newport Beach, California. She pleaded guilty in January 2020.
  • Toby MacFarlane: a former executive at a California insurance company. He pleaded guilty in June 2019.
  • William McGlashan: an executive at TPG Growth, a private-equity firm. He pleaded guilty in February 2021.
  • Marci Palatella: the CEO of a liquor-distribution company. She agreed to plead guilty in August 2021.
  • Robert Repella: a parent from Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in May 2020.
  • Peter Jan Sartorio: the leader of a packaged-foods company. Sartorio pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Stephen Semprevivo: an executive at Cydcor, an outsourced-sales company. Semprevivo pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • Devin Sloane: an executive at Aquatecture, a water-technology company. Sloane pleaded guilty in May 2019.
  • John Wilson: the founder and CEO of a private-equity and real-estate firm.
  • Homayoun Zadeh: a dentistry professor at USC. He agreed to plead guilty in June 2021.
  • Robert Zangrillo: the founder and CEO of Dragon Global, a venture-capital and real-estate-investment firm. He was pardoned by former President Donald Trump in January 2021.
  • David Sidoo: a philanthropist. Sidoo pleaded guilty in March 2020.
  • Xiaoning Sui: a Chinese citizen and resident of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Sui pleaded guilty in February 2020.

This article has been updated.

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