Fifteen parents who hadn’t pleaded guilty in a college admissions cheating scheme were hit with a new grand jury indictment in Boston on Tuesday that includes a new charge of bribery for most of them.
The defendants in the revised indictment include actress Lori Loughlin and six Bay Area parents. Nineteen other parents have previously pleaded guilty to lesser charges and one other is being sought for extradition from Spain. Like the other 19 parents, the 15 re-indicted defendants are accused of either paying to have their children’s admissions test scores corrected or paying to have their children fraudulently admitted as athletic recruits, or both.
The third superseding indictment carries over previous charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud and conspiracy to launder money. It adds the new charge of bribing a federal funded college program for 12 defendants, including Loughlin, her husband Mossimo Giannulli, and four Bay Area parents.
In 11 cases, the college whose coaches were bribed through college admissions consultant Rick Singer was the University of Southern California and in the 12th the colleges were Harvard and Stanford universities. Several parents also are accused of additional charges of committing mail and wire fraud.
The Bay Area parents facing the new bribery charge in addition to the previous fraud and money laundering conspiracy counts are Diane and Todd Blake of Ross, William McGlashin of Mill Valley and Marci Palatella of Hillsborough. Gregory and Amy Colburn of Palo Alto face the two previous conspiracy charges.
The Blakes are accused of paying college consultant Singer $250,000 to have their daughter recruited to USC as a supposed volleyball star in 2017. McGlashin is accused of paying $50,000 to have a corrupt proctor improve his son’s ACT test scores plus $250,000 to have him presented to USC as a football placekicker and punter in 2018. Palatella is accused of paying $75,000 for cheating on her son’s SAT exam plus $500,000 to have him recruited to USC as a football player. The Colburns are alleged to have paid $25,000 to have the corrupt proctor improve their son’s answers on his SAT test in 2018. Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $400,000 to have both their daughters admitted to USC as supposed crew recruits.
Ten parents who pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy charge have been sentenced in federal court in Boston to terms ranging from probation to five months in prison. Nine others who pleaded guilty to various charges are awaiting sentencing.
The two conspiracy counts facing the 15 parents named Tuesday each carry a possible maximum sentence of 20 years in prison upon conviction and the bribery charge has a maximum of five years.
Singer pleaded guilty to several charges including racketeering conspiracy and has been cooperating with prosecutors.