Every Coach Charged in the FBI's College Admission Recruiting, Bribery Scandal
The FBI and federal prosecutors in Boston have charged 50 people, including several university athletic coaches and administrators of college entrance exams, in a nationwide college admissions cheating and recruitment scheme, according to court documents first released on Tuesday.
The scheme allegedly worked to help potential students cheat on college entrance exams by bribing SAT or ACT administrators or by bribing college athletic coaches to facilitate non-recruits admittance to elite universities as recruits regardless of their actual athletic abilities or histories.
Some schools, like Wake Forest and UCLA, have already suspended coaches allegedly involved in the scandal in light of the court documents released Tuesday morning. The two were among several schools implicated, although there is no indication that the universities themselves were directly involved in the wrong-doing.
Georgetown University, Stanford University, UCLA, the University of San Diego, USC, University of Texas, and Yale were among others allegedly connected to the nationwide scheme.
Coaches implicated in the recruiting scheme, according to court documents:
• Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer (terminated by the University following his indictment)
• Former Yale women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith
• Former Georgetown tennis coach Gordie Ernst, now at Rhode Island
• Current UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo (placed on leave following his indictment)
• Current Texas men's tennis coach Michael Center (terminated by the university following his indictment)
• Current WakeForest women's volleyball coach William "Bill" Ferguson (placed on leave following his indictment)
• Former USC women's soccer head coach Ali Khosroshahin
• Former USC women's soccer assistant coach Laura Janke
• Current USC Senior Associate Athletic Director Donna Heinel (terminated by the university following her arrest)
• Current USC water polo head coach Jovan Vavic (terminated by the university following her arrest)
Other implicated individuals of note include:
• Mark Riddell, the Director of College Entrance Exam Preparation at IMG Academy, a private college preparatory school and sports academy in Bradenton, Fla.
• Actress Lori Loughlin, of Full House fame
• Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman
• William Rick Singer, figure at the center of the scheme
• Igor Dvorskiy, the Director of West Hollywood College Prep School
• Lisa 'Niki' Williams, SAT/ACT test administrator in Houston, Texas