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U.S. NEWS Saturday 22 February 2020

$ 10

Parent pleads guilty in

college admissions scheme

By COLLIN BINKLEY UCLA admitted Sui's son as serving 11 days.
AP Education Writer a soccer player in Novem- Some others are contesting
BOSTON (AP) — A woman ber 2018, authorities say, charges against them, in-
charged in the college and awarded him a 25% cluding "Full House" actress
admissions scandal plead- scholarship. In September, Lori Loughlin and her fash-
ed guilty Friday to paying UCLA said it had taken "im- ion designer husband, Mos-
$400,000 to get her son into mediate corrective action" simo Giannulli, who are ac-
the University of California, after learning of the case. cused of paying to get their Xiaoning Sui, a Chinese national residing in British Columbia,
Los Angeles, as a fake soc- Sui's lawyer, Martin Wein- two daughters into USC as Canada, leaves federal court, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020, in Boston,
cer recruit. berg, said his client was on fake athletes on the crew after pleading guilty to paying $400,000 to get her son into the
Xiaoning Sui, 49, a Chinese vacation in Spain when she team.q University of California, Los Angeles, as a fake soccer recruit.
citizen who lives in Surrey, was arrested on behalf of Associated Press
British Columbia, pleaded U.S. authorities. Weinberg
guilty to a single count of said that Sui did not know
federal programs bribery in she was wanted by the
Boston's federal court. U.S. until her arrest. She was
The charge is used in cas- initially charged in March
es of bribery at organiza- 2019, but the document
tions that received at least was filed under seal and
$10,000 in federal funding was not made public until
in a single year. In this case, September.
Sui is accused of bribing an Sui was expected to be re-
official at UCLA. Prosecu- leased Friday to return to
tors are recommending no Canada until her sentenc-
additional jail time for Sui, ing.
who was arrested in Spain The admissions scandal
in September and held has ensnared dozens of
there while authorities ex- wealthy parents accused
tradited her to the United of paying bribes to rig their
States. children's SAT and ACT
Dressed in a gray sweatsuit scores or get them admit-
and speaking through a ted as recruited athletes to
Chinese interpreter, Sui said elite schools across the na-
she agreed with the pros- tion, including Yale, Stan-
ecutors' account. ford and Georgetown uni-
According to charg- versities.
ing documents, Sui paid More than 50 people
$400,000 to a sham char- have been charged in the
ity operated by admissions scheme, including "Desper-
consultant William "Rick" ate Housewives" star Felic-
Singer as part of a scheme ity Huffman, who was sen-
to have her son admitted tenced to 14 days in prison
as a fake soccer recruit at for paying $15,000 to rig her
UCLA. daughter's SAT score. She
Prosecutors say Singer was released from a fed-
worked with Laura Janke, eral prison in October after
a former assistant soccer
coach at the University of
Southern California, to fab-
ricate an athletic profile
depicting Sui's son as a top
player on two soccer clubs
in Canada, even though
he did not play competi-
tive soccer. Both Singer
and Janke have pleaded
guilty.