College Admissions Scandal Update: Did Rick Singer Arrange Bribes At Schools Other Than USC?

Details continue to emerge pertaining to the ongoing college admissions scandal. Rick Singer, the mastermind behind the scam, reportedly approached other schools aside from the University of Southern California (USC) in an attempt to set up a system of willing participants. Some of the institutions that he spoke with agreed while others did not.

Now, the President of Stanford University has revealed that Singer allegedly asked seven coaches at the California school to "support a Singer client in exchange for a financial consideration," reports CNN.

The outlet states the seven Stanford employees were approached between the years of 2009 and 2019, which is when Singer was arrested for the admissions scam. At this time, there is no evidence that any of them agreed to participate, aside from John Vandemoer, a former sailing coach.

In March, Vandemoer was arrested and charged with "arranging bribes of $110,000 and $160,000 to the sailing program in exchange for designating two applicants as sailing recruits." Ultimately, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering and received two years of supervised release without prison time.

READ: College Admissions Scandal Update: Lori Loughlin's Recommended Sentence For Pleading Guilty, Testifying

As a way of moving forward, Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne wrote a letter to the university community that addressed what had been quietly occurring. In the post, the school official stated that beyond the scheme there was, as reiterated by CNN, "no evidence of any other fraudulent schemes for the admission of student-athletes during this period."

As previously reported, several celebrities have been caught up in the admissions scandal as well, including former "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman and "Fuller House" star Lori Loughlin. Earlier this year, Huffman pleaded guilty to paying Singer $15,000 so that her daughter's test scores would be changed. Subsequently, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison but was released early from custody. She has already started fulfilling her community service requirements.

As for Loughlin, both she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid Singer $500,000 so that their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, could attend USC. They have pleaded not guilty but have been charged with mail and wire fraud, honest services mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.