SAN DIEGO — New developments emerged Wednesday involving the mastermind of the college admissions scandal known as 'varsity blues.' William 'Rick' Singer was sentenced to three and a half years prison. He's also ordered to pay the IRS more than $10 million.
It was the biggest college cheating scandal in the country, giving wealthy families an illegal 'side door' into high-ranking schools. You may remember a few local families tied to the case.
Former La Jolla media executive Elisabeth Kimmel was sentenced to six weeks in prison and a year of house arrest, after paying Singer more than half a million dollars to get her kids into USC and Georgetown University.
Meantime former University of San Diego basketball coach Lamont Smith was named in the case for taking thousands of dollars' worth of bribes. Smith reportedly snuck fake student athletes into the school by putting them on the varsity team.
"Nobody had anticipated that someone could come up with this kind of scandal," said Keith Altman, who has been an education lawyer for more than 25 years. "Our principle is if you've done something wrong, accept responsibility and step up to the plate. Then negotiate the best possible outcome. That's what this gentleman has done. I'm not in a position to say too much, too little, but it should be meaningful. This had a major impact on lot of people's lives."
Altman says this case has a silver lining.
"Universities have changed the ways they look at admissions," said Altman. "I think they've really taken strong step to review student essays, plagiarism-check student essays to see that students are really writing these things. I think they're doing a better job of vetting and verifying information to make sure."
