The son of a parent convicted in the college-admissions scandal says that he 'didn't care' where he went to school and that his dad was 'way too invested'
- Matteo Sloane, the son of Devin Sloane, spoke to the Wall Street Journal reporters Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz for their new book, "Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal."
- Devin Sloane was sentenced to four months in prison in September for his role in the scandal. Prosecutors said he paid $250,000 to have his son admitted to the University of Southern California as a water-polo recruit.
- Matteo Sloane told Korn and Levitz that he thought his father was "too invested" in his future and that he believes he would have figured things out on his own.
The son of a parent sentenced in the college-admissions scandal said that he "didn't care" where he went to school but that his father was "too invested" in where he would go.
Matteo Sloane, the son of Devin Sloane, spoke to the Wall Street Journal reporters Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz for their new book, "Unacceptable: Privilege, Deceit & the Making of the College Admissions Scandal."
"I accepted the reality that my parents were way too invested," Matteo Sloane, who spent his childhood between Italy and Los Angeles, told Korn and Levitz. "In hindsight, that is why I didn't push back as much as I probably should have."
He told Korn and Levitz that while he attended The Buckley School, a $40,000-a-year school in Sherman Oaks, California, parents were too involved in their kids' lives — so much so that their children couldn't grow on their own.
"It's honestly like, kind of gross," he said.
At Buckley, he played soccer, was vice president of the school's diversity club, and took Advanced Placement classes. He dreamed of studying environmental science after graduating and hoped to eventually attend any of a number of schools, including Santa Clara University, Loyola Marymount University, Georgetown University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
"I didn't want to go to the school with the best acceptance rate," he told Korn and Levitz. "I didn't care about that at all. I just wanted to go to a good school where I fit in and would have a good balance between social life and academics and kind of develop into my own person."
But his father had other plans, hiring Rick Singer, described by prosecutors as the ringleader of the college-admissions scandal.
Devin Sloane, the founder and chief executive of a drinking-water and wastewater systems business in Los Angeles, was sentenced to four months in prison in September for his role in the scandal. Prosecutors said he paid $250,000 to have Matteo Sloane admitted to the University of Southern California as a water-polo recruit, even though he didn't play the sport.
An affidavit said Devin Sloane bought water-polo gear from Amazon to stage a photo shoot with his son for a USC application, for which Singer's staff created a fake athletic profile claiming that Matteo Sloane played for the "Italian Junior National Team" and the "LA Water Polo" team.
Matteo Sloane's high-school counselor questioned the application because the school did not have a water-polo team. But ultimately, he was accepted into USC.
Despite his father's arrest, guilty plea, and sentencing, Matteo Sloane, now 20, is still attending USC. He told Korn and Levitz that he'd forgiven his father and even visited him when he was in prison.
He said he did, however, confront his father when he posted bail.
"Why didn't you believe in me?" he asked his father, according to Korn and Levitz. "Why didn't you trust me?"
- Read more:
- Here's everyone who has been sentenced in the college admissions scandal so far
- Here's the full list of people charged in the college admissions cheating scandal, and who has pleaded guilty so far
- Here's why Lori Loughlin will likely spend 2 months in prison for the college admissions scandal while Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days