College Cheating Scandal
Los Angeles business executive Stephen Semprevivo was sentenced to four months in federal prison for paying $400,000 to get his son admitted to Georgetown University as a fake tennis recruit.
He is the third parent sentenced in the college admissions scandal, and seems to have made the largest payment to the ring leader of the scheme, Rick Singer. The U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani made the pattern of having harsher punishments for the parents who paid more money to get their kids' SAT or ACT scores fixed.
Semprevivo was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of $100,000.
He is the third parent sentenced in the college admissions scandal, and seems to have made the largest payment to the ring leader of the scheme, Rick Singer. The U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani made the pattern of having harsher punishments for the parents who paid more money to get their kids' SAT or ACT scores fixed.Semprevivo was also sentenced to two years of supervised release, 500 hours of community service, and a fine of $100,000.
Semprevivo's attorneys stand by the belief that Semprevivo and the 35 other parents were simply victims of Rick Singer.
Semprevivo's sentencing is a couple days after Judge Talwani gave Los Angeles businessman Devin Sloane 4 months in prison for paying $250,000 to get his son to be a false recruit for the water polo team at the University of Southern California.
Actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to Singer to have someone correct the answers on her daughter's SAT exam.
Semprevivo admitted to writing the $400,000 check to a fake nonprofit by Singer. Prosecutors said that a portion of the money was paid to Gordon Ernst(the tennis coach at the time) who knew the son didn't play tennis competitively.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney said that Semprevivo's audacity is outstanding because he is a co-conspirator in Singer's crimes. The wiretapped phone called between Singer and Semprevivo made it clear that he wasn't a passive bystander.
Comments from Allen:
When I attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, I became aware of just how competitive college admissions had become. Students who had failed to be admitted to Stanford matriculated to Occidental, kept their grades up for a year, and then transferred to Stanford; it was that important to their lives that their diploma say "Stanford" on it.
Occidental had prided itself in refusing to proctor exams, only to find that med school admissions were almost life-and-death events for many college students who would gladly cheat their way into med school if they could. For those of us who had to write term papers in college (I had to write nine of them my freshman year alone), there appeared "Term Papers Inc.," a service that would write a term paper for you, or provide you with a term paper another student had written on the topic at an earlier date. (No, I never attempted to use that service).
Many of my classmates were children of famous, rich or powerful people; they wanted their children to succeed, and certainly had the means to pay whatever cost necessary to insure that happened. Nonetheless, with all of this pressure to enter and graduate from an "Ivy-League-West" school, it never crossed my mind that anyone would be able to buy their way into Occidental, USC or Stanford.
Now that we know this has happened, and that it was of course very wrong, was it criminal?
Seriously, not every wrong is a crime. Just because an action is immoral does not mean it is criminal, or that it should be criminally prosecuted.
For all of the cases involving bribes to faculty members, step one in an incident like this is to fire the faculty member taking bribes. Step two is to kick the student out of college he was not qualified to enter.
As to "fixing" an SAT or ACT score, I find that as repugnant as the actions of the athletes who tried to beat me in track by taking performance-enhancing drugs before a race.
When I attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, I became aware of just how competitive college admissions had become. Students who had failed to be admitted to Stanford matriculated to Occidental, kept their grades up for a year, and then transferred to Stanford; it was that important to their lives that their diploma say "Stanford" on it.
Occidental had prided itself in refusing to proctor exams, only to find that med school admissions were almost life-and-death events for many college students who would gladly cheat their way into med school if they could. For those of us who had to write term papers in college (I had to write nine of them my freshman year alone), there appeared "Term Papers Inc.," a service that would write a term paper for you, or provide you with a term paper another student had written on the topic at an earlier date. (No, I never attempted to use that service).
Many of my classmates were children of famous, rich or powerful people; they wanted their children to succeed, and certainly had the means to pay whatever cost necessary to insure that happened. Nonetheless, with all of this pressure to enter and graduate from an "Ivy-League-West" school, it never crossed my mind that anyone would be able to buy their way into Occidental, USC or Stanford.
Now that we know this has happened, and that it was of course very wrong, was it criminal?
Seriously, not every wrong is a crime. Just because an action is immoral does not mean it is criminal, or that it should be criminally prosecuted.
For all of the cases involving bribes to faculty members, step one in an incident like this is to fire the faculty member taking bribes. Step two is to kick the student out of college he was not qualified to enter.
As to "fixing" an SAT or ACT score, I find that as repugnant as the actions of the athletes who tried to beat me in track by taking performance-enhancing drugs before a race.
The criminal filings against the parents and teachers and "fixers" involve conspiracy to commit mail fraud, using the U.S. mails or interstate transmissions to commit a fraudulent act with the cooperation of other persons.
The judge in this case believed the SAT score fixes were actually less repugnant than getting an unqualified student admitted on an athletic scholarship, because a good SAT score does not guarantee admission, while an athletic scholarship does.
As one who competed in NCAA athletics in college, I wonder how a water polo coach or tennis coach can live with himself after burning his athletic scholarships on someone who does not even play the sport? Each sport can offer a limited number of scholarships per year; selling one of those precious and limited scholarships to an unqualified student is an absolute betrayal of the entire team.
The fraudulent schemes did have other victims: low-income students who were denied admission to those schools because the wealthier families were able to fudge on admission requirements.
I will say that these criminal sentences for mail fraud are extremely low, which indicates the judges view these transgressions as more as moral failures than hard-core criminal acts. Anyone who enters federal court on a criminal charge normally walks away straight to the federal pen for many years. Federal sentences are usually notoriously long, compared with state court sanctions. These convicts are headed for four-month stints, hardly a severe sanction.
I would also hope that the faculty members and fixers involved in these schemes be compelled to disgorge their illegal income amounts in full. Some received millions in illegal compensation; a $100,000 fine is hardly justice in these cases.
The judge in this case believed the SAT score fixes were actually less repugnant than getting an unqualified student admitted on an athletic scholarship, because a good SAT score does not guarantee admission, while an athletic scholarship does.
As one who competed in NCAA athletics in college, I wonder how a water polo coach or tennis coach can live with himself after burning his athletic scholarships on someone who does not even play the sport? Each sport can offer a limited number of scholarships per year; selling one of those precious and limited scholarships to an unqualified student is an absolute betrayal of the entire team.
The fraudulent schemes did have other victims: low-income students who were denied admission to those schools because the wealthier families were able to fudge on admission requirements.
I will say that these criminal sentences for mail fraud are extremely low, which indicates the judges view these transgressions as more as moral failures than hard-core criminal acts. Anyone who enters federal court on a criminal charge normally walks away straight to the federal pen for many years. Federal sentences are usually notoriously long, compared with state court sanctions. These convicts are headed for four-month stints, hardly a severe sanction.
I would also hope that the faculty members and fixers involved in these schemes be compelled to disgorge their illegal income amounts in full. Some received millions in illegal compensation; a $100,000 fine is hardly justice in these cases.
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Allen Browning is an attorney in Idaho Falls, Idaho who handles personal injury and criminal defense. He has over 30 years of experience and handled thousands of cases. Allen handles cases from all over Idaho. Call (208) 542-2700 to set up a free consultation if you are facing legal trouble or you have been involved in an accident.
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Sources for more information:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/college-admissions-scandal-stephen-semprevivo-sentenced-for-role-in-sons-admission-to-georgetown-2019-09-26/
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