Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

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Econoline
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by MGMcAnick »

Crackpot wrote:To be fair at my high school there was a 300 pound guy that lettered in track
To be fair, did the throw the 8 pound or 12 pound shot?
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

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He ran
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

To make a long story short, I quite fancied myself as a high school (17 years old) shot putter until I lost a competition to a guy called Geoff Capes. He wasn't that big when we were both 17 - he was then maybe 220 lbs and six feet - but he went on to be 6'5" and 360 lbs and was European champ and fifth in the Olympics. When we were 17 he shat all over me and beat me by about 12 feet. He could also do a 23.2 second 200 meters. You did not want to get between Geoff and the finish line.

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Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by RayThom »

x-ka, good ol' Geoff doesn't look so tough. You must have been a 98 pound weakling.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Lord Jim »

Felicity Huffman issues apology over college admissions case

(CNN)Felicity Huffman has apologized for her part in a college admissions scam.
The actress pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud on

Monday, stemming from a payment of $15,000 to facilitate cheating for her daughter on the SATs, according to federal prosecutors.

Huffman's full statement, obtained by CNN, follows below:
"I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney's Office.

I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.

I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly.

My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, [In this case that's actually believable, since what she did was bribe one of the exam proctors to correct her daughter's exam answers. It's entirely plausible that could have happened without the kid's knowledge.] and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/entertai ... index.html

I was completely unfamiliar with Ms. Huffman prior to this scandal breaking, (I know this will come as a surprise to many here, but I am not a regular viewer of Desperate Housewives...)

And there's no question but that what she did was absolutely horrible, and her apology not withstanding, she still deserves to receive some punishment...

However, that being said, I have to say that if one wishes to offer an unreserved and complete apology for doing something terrible, and also a no excuses ownership for your misdeed, Felicity has certainly offered up an excellent example of how to do that...

In an era when "never apologize for anything" and half-assed heavily qualified excuse making pseudo-apologies are much in vogue, I found her statement quite refreshing...

She obviously set an awful example for her daughter by doing what she did, but she certainly set a much better example for her with the complete and total way she owned up to it...
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Big RR »

I don't know Jim, I get the feeling she gave the apology her attorney recommended for some sort of leniency; I doubt it was sincere (at least from the way she delivered it on the part I heard on the radio). Yes, it is a complete apology, but it sounds like the same "apologies" made by so many just prior to sentencing. My guess is that she's sorry she was caught, not that she did what she did.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Scooter »

Isn't that true of almost every criminal?

None of us can know what is in her heart, but such an unqualified admission of guilt without any proffer of mitigation is nothing like what we have come to expect from someone in her position. Whether she truly meant it or not, she has closed the door to any future attempt at rationalizing her actions and rehabilitating her reputation in that respect; otherwise people clearly would be able to label her as having been untruthful.
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Big RR »

Maybe, but then, let's parse her statement:

I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney's Office

leading off with this seems (to me at least) to hint some sort of deal is in the works; she is represented by counsel and (I'd bet) would not offer to plead guilty absent a deal as to the penalty


I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.

same comment as above

I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly.

I am ashamed of the pain that my getting caught has brought to my family, etc. I am not necessarily ashamed of trying to cheat the system. the second part of the statement appears to be a throwaway to others trying to get into college. She did not say she cheated those people or gamed the system against them, only that she apologized for getting caught

Her last statement is the closest she comes to a real expression of any remorse, but appears primarily designed to remove her kid from any suspicion.

Personally, I would find a statement of exactly what she did and why she now recognizes it as wrong to be a lot more compelling. Here, I think it is a self serving statement to curry favor with the prosecutors and wind up with a lenient sentence, which, I agree, is true of the apologies of almost every criminal. And I do think she has a left a lot of room to rehabilitate her reputation by saying it was the unfair college admissions system that drove her to these lengths for love of her daughter. At least that's what I bet will eventually happen.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

I agree with you Jim. In a time when we have a never apologize, never explain President and even those apologies that are made (I am sorry if anyone was stupid enough to be offended) it sounds genuine to me. I like the fact that she apologized first and foremost to her daughter, recognizing that she (mother) has done her best to make her feel diminished for the rest of her life.

Once again, like when they caught up with Manafort - I end up wondering how many people are getting away with this kind of crap which to me, is far more damaging to a meritocracy than the guy who robs a bank. At least we know that kind of thing happens and we make at least rudimentary and mostly effective attempts to minimize it. The thought that someone can get into a school on the basis of a fake athletics place (I know that wasn't the case for Ms Hufffman) without being found out, boggles the mind.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by ex-khobar Andy »

RayThom wrote:x-ka, good ol' Geoff doesn't look so tough. You must have been a 98 pound weakling.
Yes he became, after he ended his athletics career, a world champion budgerigar breeder. That tells you something about the competitive juices . . .

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Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by RayThom »

Re. Felicity Huffman: Spoken like the wonderful actor we know and love.

Coming soon an HBO Feature Presentation: "The College Admission $candal" starring Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, and a cast of thousands.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by rubato »

I recalled her from "Transamerica" for which she received many well deserved awards and for "Door to Door" for which her Husband deserved but did not receive any awards. I've never seen DH.

I was surprised she was involved in something like this, it did not seem to be her character. Or the character which I thought I perceived. The admission appears to me to be completely honest.


It is easy to pretend of ourselves that we would never do something like that but you cannot merit that claim unless you have faced the same temptations.
An unattempted lady could not vaunt of her chastity.
Michel de Montaigne
I didn't go all the way over and commit a corrupt act, but I did tread on that line and am embarrassed about it. My nephew was applying to UCSC and my sister was (needlessly) anxious about his chances and asked me to see what I could do. So I wrote emails to various people to try to help him out. All of that was fine but in one I mentioned that my wife and I are regular contributors to UCSC and the division he was applying to especially ( a few 10s of$K over the years). I felt uneasy about it at the time but my moral sense has ripened since then to shame because I was suggesting that our support might be contingent and should be probative, and it is not and should not. ( And afterwards my sis tells me that he was in the 95th % based on test scores so the whole thing was useless.). I also let someone take credit on a patent when she did not contribute to the idea, which I regret. (And that after years of asking to be taken off of patents which I believed I did not deserve.) A Russian colleague said to me "let her be on the patent, as long as you do not take credit you do not deserve you are not corrupt". Still, today, I think it was wrong.

If I was richer or better looking I might have had to face other temptations.

Moral people make mistakes, but they do the right thing afterwards.

1. They admit they did it.
2. They admit it was wrong.
3. They apologize.
4. They offer atonement or a way to mitigate the harm.



yrs,
rubato

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by BoSoxGal »

In my experience of criminal law, statements like Huffman’s at entry of guilty plea - or at sentencing - are the routine and are expected by counsel & the court. A ‘common’ criminal with a public defender will generally offer a much less articulate and careful statement, but they are often quite heartfelt and sincere by virtue of being unfiltered.

I wouldn’t venture to judge the sincerity of Huffman’s statement absent the opportunity to see and hear it for myself, because demeanor is everything in judging the sincerity of an apology for criminal behavior. I have seen very many genuine apologies in my time at counsel table - in my experience, the entirely unconcerned unapologetic criminal is the exception, not the rule. A good recent example - and of someone who wasn’t able to muster a shred of an apology or any genuine contrition - was Paul Manafort. Most good defense attorneys would advise a client like him not to address the court at all, assuming the attorney has gotten to know her client reasonably well and has assessed that he isn’t capable of expressing (or maybe even feeling) remorse. Judges are not at all impressed by righteous indignation in defendants pleading guilty and asking for the court’s leniency.

I’m guessing Huffman IS sorry about her acts now, as are Loughlin and her husband and probably many of the other parents who got caught in this sting, because these acts will probably damage their relationships with their children for years to come. I realize some of the kids were complicit in the acts, but like Loughlin’s younger daughter, many of them were likely coerced into the acts by the demands and expectations of their parents. 17/18/19+ are very impressionable ages still, and most kids just want their parents to approve of them and be proud of them and they will often jump through hoops to attempt to win that parental affirmation. Olivia Jade was making money and building a career as a social media influencer (as frivolous as it might seem to some of us, she was probably making more than some of us ever will) and she wasn’t even interested in college; what if her damned mother had just loved her as is and let her be? What if she’d loved her other daughter even if she only went to California Lutheran or some other less competitive school than USC?

The whole situation is sad - but most of all of course because of the kids out there who got rejected by the schools so they could sell places to students who didn’t earn them and in some cases didn’t even want them.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Big RR »

I agree it is sad BSG, but then college entrance is hardly based on merit in all cases. George W Bush (an average student at best) got into Yale on a legacy with a lot of family connections making contributions--the same is true for a lot of average students from wealthy backgrounds who got into the most prestigious colleges. Then add in the spots reserved for athletes, many of whom don't graduate (but generate a lot of money for the universities). And so on. Not to mention the cases of where the parents or coaches paid someone else to take the SATs for prospective students (something more often winked at than punished).

I honestly don't see much of what went on here as all that different. As I said above, the entire system is sad.

One question, when you mention a criminal routinely showing some remorse, is it your experience that the remorse is for committing the crime or for getting caught? I haven't practiced criminal law, except for certain municipal offenses and some juvenile offenders, but in the majority of those cases I saw the remorse as being caught. I have occasionally seen a DUI offender who was actually seeing it as a wake up to a problem, but mostly they were sorry they were caught and going to be punished, not for driving drunk (or doing what they did). Maybe I'm too cynical, but that's what I how I see Huffman's apology; she's a pretty good actress, but then most defendants are.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Lord Jim »

Tanya McDowell got 12 years for sending her son to the wrong school district
I was not familiar with this story, and found that assertion rather stunning, so I decided to look it up...

Turns out there is considerably more to it then that; Ms. McDowell is not exactly the poster woman for Mother Of The Year:
Tanya McDowell sentenced to 5 years in prison

Daniel Tepfer Updated 11:40 pm EDT, Tuesday, March 27, 2012

BRIDGEPORT -- Even as she faced sentencing Tuesday for twice selling drugs to an undercover police officer, Tanya McDowell vowed she would continue to fight for a better education for her young son.

"Who would have thought that wanting a good education for my son would put me in this predicament?" McDowell lamented as she stood handcuffed before Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti. "I have no regrets seeking a better education for him, I do regret my participation in this drug case." [so she did not contest that, claim she was framed, etc.]

Last month the 34-year-old Bridgeport woman pleaded guilty in a Norwalk court to charges of first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for illegally enrolling her 6-year-old son in Norwalk public school despite living here.

That case drew protests by residents and civil rights groups who claimed McDowell was being persecuted for her attempt to get a better education for her son.

Iannotti retorted Tuesday that the Norwalk case had nothing to do with why McDowell was before him.

"This case is about the convictions for the sale of narcotics to an undercover police officer," the judge said. "I think you understand that because that is really the essence of what has gotten you into the predicament you find yourself today."

On the two counts of sale of narcotics, the judge then sentenced her to 12 years, suspended after she serves five years and followed by five years probation. The sentence is to run concurrently with a five-year sentence she received in the Norwalk case. [She was sentenced in 2012 and has been out since 2017]

"When you are released, go back to doing an honest living and become a role model for your son," the judge added.

Tuesday's hearing ended a highly charged case that put a spotlight on the city's beleaguered school system and cries for changes in state legislation that makes it illegal for parents to send their children to schools in towns where they are not residents.

But support for McDowell dropped off after she was arrested by Bridgeport police in June and charged with selling marijuana and crack cocaine on two occasions to an undercover police officer outside her Dover Street home. Police said McDowell even interrupted her 6-year-old son's birthday to sell the drugs.

Assistant State's Attorney Michael DeJoseph had made strong efforts to separate the Norwalk case from the drug cases he was prosecuting.

In the end, both he and McDowell's lawyer, Darnell Crosland, said they were happy with the resolution of the cases.
https://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Tan ... 437974.php

So five years not 12, and because the sentences ran concurrently, Ms. McDowell did not spend one more minute in jail than she would have if she had been convicted of the drug charges alone...

ETA:

Oh, and the claim in the tweet about the Kelley Williams-Bolar case is grossly misleading as well:
The story of a black mother who served jail time for using her father’s address so her two daughters could enroll at a better school gained new attention on social media this week as news of a widespread college admissions scandal broke.

Kelley Williams-Bolar served nine days in jail in 2011 after she was found guilty of using her father’s address instead of her own in an attempt to have her daughters enroll in a better school district than the Akron, Ohio, one they were slated for, according to HuffPost.

Williams-Bolar was also put on probation for three years and required to complete 80 hours of community service.

"It's overwhelming. I'm exhausted," she said after her sentencing, according to ABC. "I did this for them, so there it is. I did this for them."

In order to catch Williams-Bolar, the school district hired a private investigator. Once the district had evidence on her, they asked her to pay $30,000 back in tuition. When she refused to do so, she was indicted on felony charges.

"I don't think they wanted money," Williams-Bolar said at the time. "They wanted me to be an example."[Of course we'll never know that for a fact, since she refused to pay.]
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing ... g-child-in

So she was never fined $30,000, and she spent a grand total of nine days in jail rather than three years, but other than that the claim was spot on...

My take away from this is that any time I see a tweet from "SJPEace", (much like when I see Jim Wrong being quoted) my first move will be to fact check...
Last edited by Lord Jim on Wed Jun 05, 2019 11:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by MajGenl.Meade »

And K W-B served 9 days in jail for cheating the system. Not seeking better education for her child (which was available elsewhere for free and at the very school for tuition of $800 a month - good luck with that) but feared her own house was in an unsafe district so used a relative's address so the daughter didn't have to go home to hell. Some 18 black families and 12 or so whites did the same thing but 'fessed up when caught and either moved their child to another school legally or paid the tuition.

So the race meme doesn't work either. Facts not Memes!
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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Big RR »

Meade in many areas (I cannot speak for OHIO) the quality of public education differs greatly from school district to school district--often different towns (such as in NJ) but even in neighborhoods (like in NYC where some public schools are much better than others). Certainly she was "cheating", but the cheating was, at is root, and attempt to get her child a better education. As for the option of paying tuition, many do not have the additional money to do so (what with taxes paying for public schools which are substandard in some areas), and I honestly question how an $800 a month tuition becomes $30,000 (at $800 a month this comes out to just short of 38 months or nearly 4 years with a 10 month school year as common in the US).

I am not defending her, but I would clearly try to do the same and break the cycle of poverty by getting a good education if it were my kid.

But back to the subject of the thread, I think the jail time sought shows how serious the prosecutors think the offense is. IMHO, everyone wants everyone else to play by the rules, but will kind of wink at some improprieties if they think they can use them. This is a bit further than most would go, but paying off the school (sorry giving donations) is not seen to be a problem at all.

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Re: Massive College Scam and Bribery Sting...

Post by Crackpot »

Hat is/was way of life here. Hasn’t been as much of an issue since they introduced “school of choice”. Where for a May fee you can choose which (of a short list) public school your child to attend.
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.

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