Episode description
It ended up with famous actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin being sent to prison. Over $25million in bribes exchanged hands. Almost every major elite university in the USA was involved. And at the end of the day, the whole thing came down to dodgy photoshop and cheating on a test.
Rick Singer made a fortune when he realised that rich, entitled parents would do anything to get their kids into the best US colleges (seriously - anything. It's wild). But when Rick was busted by the FBI, he quickly flipped and told the agents everything about his 'side door' entry system, leading to a worldwide news frenzy when a lot of very privileged, high profile parents were arrested.
Skip straight to the story: 17:08
We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's this:
Watch 'Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal' (on Netflix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFHj8e7mU_I
Listen to the 'Gangster Capitalism' podcast episodes on the scandal:
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/introducing-season-1-the-college-admissions-scandal/id1460320573?i=1000519261599
Good rundown of the 'side door' admission scheme:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/12/college-admissions-fraud-scandal-felicity-huffman-lori-loughlin
The Wiki gives a good summary on what each parent paid for and what punishment they received: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_college_admissions_bribery_scandal
One of the only pieces about what happened to the kids involved: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/us/college-admissions-scandal-students.html
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