Gordon caplan willkie farr
In one recording, Singer said, “I can send him your $500,000.00 that you wired to my account to secure a spot for one of your girls.” Prosecutors say the tapes remove any doubt about what Singer was up to.
So far, 33 parents have pleaded guilty in the college admissions scandal, including actors Felicity Huffman, who served 11 days in prison, and Lori Loughlin, who served two months.Ī new Netflix documentary called, “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal,” is based on the same FBI recordings from Singer. Prosecutors say the parents were well aware their payments were designed to get their kids into school as athletic recruits with fake or embellished credentials as part of Singer’s so-called, side-door scheme. Wilson’s lawyers said he was tricked by Singer and he believed he was making legitimate donations. Wilson is charged with paying $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and an additional $1 million to buy his twin daughters’ ways into Harvard and Stanford. executive John Wilson, who now heads a Massachusetts private equity firm. One of the voices played came from one of Singer’s well-known clients, former Staples and Gap Inc. But when she gets the score and we have choices, you’re going to be saying, “OK - I’ll take all my kids.” “To be honest, it feels a little weird,” said Gordon Caplan, the former co-chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who admitted to paying a bribe to doctor up his daughter’s ACT score. His words were secretly recorded by the FBI and played in court Wednesday. One of the biggest parts of the prosecution’s case were the words of the alleged admissions consultant at the center of the scheme - William “Rick “Singer. It’s been more than two years since the FBI arrested 50 parents, athletic coaches and others in a scheme targeting elite universities across the country.
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At the behest of law enforcement officials, the organisation approved Mr Caplan’s daughter for extra time in early November, which led to the sting operation and eventual charges.BOSTON ( NewsNation Now) - Closing arguments in the first trial of the so-called “Operation Varsity Blues” case took place Wednesday in a Boston federal courtroom.
Mr Caplan and his daughter met with the psychologist in Los Angeles to obtain the learning disability diagnosis, but the diagnosis was rejected twice by the ACT administrators, according to the complaint. In a follow-up call, Mr Singer explained Mr Caplan’s daughter had ‘to be stupid’ when she was getting tested for a learning disability to ensure she got the extra time. After Mr Caplan’s daughter took the exam, a paid-off proctor would doctor her answers to ensure she scored in an agreed-upon range, according to the complaint. Then the family would fly to Los Angeles on the pretense of a recruiting visit to justify the teen taking the test at one of the schools where Singer had bribed test administrators.
Mr Caplan would take his daughter to a psychologist and get her tested for a learning disability, which would get her extra time on the test and a separate room away from other students.
In the first documented phone call between the two men, on June 15, Mr Singer outlined the scheme. The evidence against Caplan, as outlined in the complaint, includes detailed excerpts of wiretapped phone calls with Singer. Mr Caplan, a private equity attorney named ‘dealmaker of the year’ by American Lawyer in 2018, and the other parents have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. Mr Singer admits he took millions in bribes to help the rich buy access to the best schools for their progeny, and then decided to cooperate with the FBI against his clients. The complaint, filed yesterday at the conclusion of the FBI probe dubbed ‘Operation Varsity Blues,’ alleges that between last June and December, Mr Caplan worked with middleman William Singer to guarantee that his daughter, who scored in the low 20’s on her practice ACT, would end up with a 32 after her answers were doctored. Mr Caplan is one of 32 parents, including business leaders and celebrities, charged in a major scheme to get their children into elite universities through bribery and cheating. Prosecutors allege Mr Caplan paid $75,000 to fraudulently inflate his daughter’s college entrance exam scores.