A former Georgetown University tennis coach who at one time was the instructor of First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters was among the 50 people indicted this morning in a sweeping college admissions scandal.
The bribery scheme, which allegedly also involved actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman, entailed getting students admitted to some of the top schools in the country as recruited athletes - regardless of athletic ability - and helping those applicants cheat on their entrance exams.
Gordon Ernst, who until last year was employed as the head coach of men’s and women’s tennis at Georgetown, was named in the bombshell indictment, along with long-time Yale women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith.
Gordon Ernst, former head coach of men’s and women’s tennis at Georgetown - and Malia Obama's (right) ex-tennis instructor - has been charged in connection to a massive college-admissions bribery scheme
William Rick Singer, who founded the college consulting business Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key, has been identified as the alleged mastermind of the scheme
According to the unsealed indictment, between 2012 and 2018, during which time Ernst was the head coach of men's and women's tennis at Georgetown University, he received bribes totalling more than $2.7million, which was falsely labelled as 'consulting.'
In exchange for the payoffs, Ernst allegedly designated at least a dozen applicants as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team, including some who did not play competitively, in order to help them get into the university.
The money came from charitable accounts set up by the accused mastermind of the scheme, William Rick Singer, who founded the college consulting business Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key, in Newport Beach, California.
Prosecutors said parents paid Singer about $25million to bribe coaches and administrators into pretending that their children were athletic recruits to guarantee their admission.
In one instance, according to the documents, Ernst was allegedly paid $400,000 for getting the child of Singer's clients into Georgetown under the guise of tennis recruitment, even though the applicant did not play competitive tennis.
Between September 2015 and August 2016, Ernst allegedly received checks totalling $700,000.
Ernst worked at Georgetown for 12 years before resigning in June 2018. Two months later, he was named the University of Rhode Island’s women's tennis coach.
Rudy Meredith is former head coach of Yale University’s women’s soccer team
An inductee of the New England Tennis Hall of Fame, Ernst at one time gave lessons to Michelle Obama and both her daughters, Sasha and Malia.
Ernst has been indicted on a charge with conspiracy to commit racketeering, along with eight other coaches.
Meanwhile, Rudy Meredith, who was the head coach of Yale University’s women’s soccer team from 1995 until November 2018, pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud, honest services wire fraud, and conspiracy; he has been cooperating with the government's investigation since April 2018 and helped build the case against others in hopes of receiving a more lenient sentence.
According to the documents, Meredith accepted a $400,000 bribe from one family to help their child get into Yale on a soccer scholarship, even though he knew she did not play the sport competitively.
To that end, Singer allegedly had an assistant coach for women's soccer at the University of Southern California create a fake profile for the girl, which stated that she was co-captain of a prominent Southern California soccer team and had been on China's junior national development team.
USC head soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin (left) and Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer (right) have been indicted on conspiracy to commit racketeering
Vandemoer arrives at Boston Federal Court for an arraignment on Tuesday
Among the 50 people indicted in connection to the bribery scandal are Texas tennis coach and former Kansas tennis coach Michael Center (left) and USC water polo coach Jovan Vavic (right)
UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo allegedly received $100,000 for helping an applicant get into the prestigious school on a soccer scholarship
The bogus profile was then forward to Meredith, who designated the applicant as a soccer recruit.
The girl's family paid Singer a total of $1.2million for his services, according to the indictment.
Other named in the indictment are current Texas tennis coach and former Kansas tennis coach Michael Center, Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer, several USC coaches and UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo.
Vandemoer was charged with accepting a total of $270,000 in contributions to the school's program for agreeing to recommend two prospective students for admission.
The school said Tuesday that neither student came to Stanford.
Court documents say Salcedo, who was the soccer coach at UCLA, helped get two applicants who did not play competitive soccer into the school in exchange for $100,000 in 2016 and 2018.
US Attorney for Massachusetts Andrew Lelling called the bribery scheme the 'largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the department of justice.'
'In return for bribes, these coaches agreed to pretend that certain applicants were recruited, competitive athletes, when, in fact, the applicants were not,' said Lelling. 'As the coaches knew, the students' athletic credentials had been fabricated.'
Among the 33 parents accused of paying bribes to get their children into some of the nation's top schools federal prosecutors named actresses Lori Loughlin (pictured left with daughter Olivia) and Felicity Huffman (right)
Loughlin's designer husband, Massimo Giannulli, was charged alongside his wife
The documents unsealed from the investigation - called Operation Varsity Blues - showed that 33 parents - among them Full House star Loughlin and Academy Award nominee Huffman - 'paid enormous sums to guarantee their children's admissions to certain schools through the use of bribes and fake academic and athletic credentials.'
An example of a student whose face was Photoshopped onto another that was included in court documents
Dozens of the parents, including Huffman, were arrested by midday.
Several defendants, among them the Desperate Housewives alum who is married to fellow actor William H. Macy, were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Macy, who stars on the show Shameless, has not been charged in connection to the scheme.
One of the schemes involved parents paying Singer, the founder of the college prep business, $15,000 to $75,000 to have someone take the SAT or ACT for their children.
Singer also allegedly staged photo shoots for his clients' children showing them playing sports, and even PhotoShopped the faces of the applicants onto stock images of young athletes to help them get into the college of their choice on athletic scholarships, according to the documents.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Boston Division Joseph Bonavolonta, left, and U.S. Attorney for District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, right, face reporters as they announce indictments in the college admissions bribery scandal Tuesday
Singer pleaded guilty this afternoon to charges including racketeering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
The schools involved - Stanford, UCLA, Wake Forest, Yale, Georgetown, University of Texas, University of San Diego, USC - are not believed to have taken part in wrongdoing.
Lelling said the investigation is continuing and authorities believe other parents were involved. The schools themselves are not targets of the investigation, he said.
No students were charged. Authorities said in many cases the teenagers were not aware of what was going on.
Colleges moved quickly to discipline the coaches accused. Stanford fired Vandemoer, UCLA suspended its soccer coach, and Wake Forest did the same with its volleyball coach.
Link hienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/13/sasha-and-malia-obamas-tennis-instructor-and-the-former-yale-womens-soccer-coach-indicted/
Main photo article A former Georgetown University tennis coach who at one time was the instructor of First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters was among the 50 people indicted this morning in a sweeping college admissions scandal.
The bribery scheme, which allegedly also involved actresses Lori Laughlin and...
It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.
Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/12/18/10892868-6800411-image-m-50_1552416220665.jpg
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