Rick Singer, the college-admissions consultant at the heart of the "Varsity Blues" scandal in which wealthy parents paid bribes to get their kids into elite universities, was ordered by a judge to serve three and a half years in prison.
It's the longest sentence handed down among more than 50 coaches, associates and parents convicted in the biggest college admissions scam the US has ever prosecuted.
Federal prosecutors had sought at least six years in prison for Singer, who they called "far and away the most culpable" of any participant in the scheme.
Singer, 62, had asked to be sentenced to a year's home confinement, three years of supervised release on probation and 750 hours of community service — or a maximum of six months in prison — as recognition for his acceptance of guilt and "extensive" cooperation. At prosecutors' direction, Singer recorded co-conspirators' conversations and provided evidence that helped convict dozens of others, including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, who were among his rich parent clients.
The government agreed Singer provided "hugely significant" assistance but also said he initially obstructed justice by using an undisclosed cell phone to tip off six families that he'd cut a deal and was working with prosecutors. Prosecutors said Singer deserved a stiffer punishment than the other conspirators, whose sentences have ranged between probation and 30 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Rya Zobel of Boston split the difference between what the two sides requested in announcing the sentence Wednesday.
"It's a serious case. It's a difficult case certainly for me and I'm sure for you as well," the judge said. "I don't think there's any doubt there has to be some period of incarceration."
Singer apologized during the hearing.
"I am responsible for my actions and my crimes," he said. "I did all of it."
Singer and his defense team had no immediate comment on the sentence.
In the decade-long Varsity Blues scheme, Singer took in $25 million from clients and funneled more than $7 million in bribes to college coaches and administrators to recruit clients' children as athletes in sports they sometimes didn't even play, according to court records. Some bribes were also paid to test proctors and administrators to cheat on college entrance exams on behalf of clients' kids, alter academic transcripts and add fake achievements to college applications.
At a news conference, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins defended the Justice Department's handling of the case. She said prosecutors have faced "relentless criticism." Judges in the district have disagreed whether anyone was actually a victim of the scheme. Several appeals are pending.
The crimes exposed in the case should make college applicants and their parents "angry," Rollins said. "This is not how the process should work and this is precisely why this prosecution was so important," she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Frank told the judge Wednesday that the victims weren't just the universities whose reputations were tarnished, whose staff were corrupted and who spent millions of dollars on internal investigations. There were also students who were passed over and deprived of admission slots in favor of unqualified applicants, Frank said.
Frank also argued that after Singer's tip-offs to the six families, "there were cases as a result that could not be brought."
"People are walking free because of that," the prosecutor said.
Prosecutors caught Singer in September 2018 and he pleaded guilty the following March to four counts of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. He faced as long as 19 years in prison, based on applicable sentencing guidelines, until probation officials mitigated that by determining no one actually lost money because of Singer's crimes.
In addition to prison time and three years of probation, Singer must give up the almost $20 million in cash and assets prosecutors claim he made off the scheme. That includes $10.7 million Singer must pay in federal income taxes he dodged by disguising bribe payments as charitable contributions. According to court records, he's already paid $1.2 million of the $3.4 million cash the court previously ordered him to forfeit.
Singer personally asked Zobel for leniency in a November statement citing a traumatic childhood that left him with a broken moral compass that pushed him to "win at all costs." Singer said he's "lost everything," including all his assets and employment prospects, and now lives in a "modest trailer park for seniors" in Florida, where he's tried to rebuild his life volunteering with underserved youth.
Zobel ordered Singer to report to prison by Feb. 27. The judge said she will recommend the ex-consultant serve his time in a federal facility in Pensacola, Florida.
The case is U.S. v. Singer, 1:19-cr-10078, US District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).
