Document of the Day: Indictment for University Admission Payoffs
Read this article in
America’s colleges and universities have earned a global reputation for top-notch teaching and research, attracting the best students and professors from around the world. While occasionally embarrassed by revelations of “legacy” admissions to rich kids and payoffs to attract young athletes, nothing like this week’s case has hit US higher education before.
In a sweeping set of charges, federal officials announced “the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.” Dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” by the FBI, prosecutors used RICO — federal anti-racketeering laws — to allege that some 50 people conspired to cheat on standardized tests or bribe coaches and other school officials to accept students into elite colleges. At the alleged center of the conspiracy: a for-profit college prep agency and an associated nonprofit foundation.
Among the schools targeted were Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, University of Texas, USC, and Yale. While the universities themselves were not implicated, named in the allegations were actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, dozens of other parents, nine coaches at elite schools; and three managers of school testing services. Prosecutors say more indictments are expected.
A look at the main indictment (one of several sets of criminal charges filed in the case) makes for colorful reading:
DV.load(“https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5767134-Indictment.js”, { responsive: true, sidebar: false, text: false, container: “#DV-viewer-5767134-Indictment” }); Indictment (PDF)
Indictment (Text)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
Read Next
Data Journalism News & Analysis
From Space to Story in Data Journalism
Over the past 10 years satellite imagery has become an important component of data journalism. In the next 10, it will likely evolve further, from a tool used primarily for illustrating stories to an integral part of research and investigative reporting.
Methodology
Remotely Investigating Russia’s Devastation of Mariupol
In March 2022, Human Rights Watch embarked on what would become an almost two year-long investigation into the Russian siege of Mariupol. Here, we explain the methodology behind our findings.
News & Analysis
Spotting Deepfakes in an Election Year: How AI Detection Tools Work — and Sometimes Fail
This Reuters Institute story offers preliminary insights on how to evaluate and understand the outcomes provided by publicly accessible AI detectors that are available for free or at low cost.
Tipsheet
Tipsheet: Latest Tools for Investigating with Telegram
Telegram’s rapid growth means reporters and investigators need to become trained in new tools that can be used to search and analyze data from the platform.