16 parents involved in college admissions scandal indicted by federal grand jury News
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16 parents involved in college admissions scandal indicted by federal grand jury

Sixteen parents involved in a college admissions scandal were charged Tuesday in a second indictment by a federal grand jury in Boston with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering.

The indictment comes just a day after 14 of their co-defendants said they would plead guilty for their role in an alleged multimillion-dollar conspiracy that cheated college admissions exams and falsely claimed athletic recruitment. The defendants conspired with William Singer, and others, to bribe SAT and ACT administrators to allow a test taker to secretly take college entrance exams in place of students, or to correct the student’s answer after the exam, and bribed university athletic coaches and administrators to falsify athletic recruits.

The second indictment charges the defendants with conspiring to launder the bribes and other payments in furtherance of the fraud by funneling them through Singer’s charity and his for-profit corporation, or by “transferring money into the United States, from outside the United States, for the purpose of promoting the fraud scheme.”

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud provides for a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000. “Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.”

An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled.