Locals among 14 defendants who plan to plead guilty in college-admissions bribery scam

I'll wait to see the sentences before I believe that rich people are treated equally by our justice system

Given the fines noted and the fact the government is asking for the low end of incarceration, I would be surprised if any of these privileged felons does a minute in a brightly colored jumpsuit.

Modern & advanced societies emphasize restitution rather than retribution which is why Mr. Bucy's prediction will probably ring true.

Now if we were living in a fundamentalist country/state, things would perhaps be handled differently.

Regional temperatures have a lot to do with how certain crimes are dealt with.

Hint: blue = moderate while red = retributive in most cases.

Modern societies emphasize deterrence, not restitution. If a crook gets caught and the penalty is just paying back the victims, how much of a deterrence is that? Next time, they will just try harder not to get caught. Penalties need to be harsh enough that the perps (even rich perps) will think long and hard before attempting their crime.

I wonder if University leadership (not just the sailing coach) will ever get indicted for taking bribes? That would be actual justice. Instead, the public will likely be told that the University President, Provost, etc. had no idea this stuff was happening.... yeah, right.

to Skeptical One,

You are skeptical! Do you think the University president knows every last thing that goes on in the university?

This is the 14th report on this scandal on PAOnline. The amount of press this story is getting on this forum alone tells a lot about why many of the defendants are local.

Lots of community service coming and fines. No jail time. No jail time.

According to the WSJ Chinese parents paid the most ($6.5M and $1.2M) to illegally get their kids into elite colleges:
Web Link
Ironically, had they paid those sums directly to the schools, rather than to Singer, they could have legally greased the wheels to get their kids' applications more favorable consideration.

> According to the WSJ Chinese parents paid the most ($6.5M and $1.2M) to illegally get their kids into elite colleges:

^^^ Wow. Since many Chinese high school students are seemingly well-prepared academically for college with high GPAs & SAT scores it's hard to imagine that some Chinese parents still had to resort to bribery measures in order to ensure desired placement.

I guess they could afford the money as many who have relocated to the SF Bay Area from China are seemingly quite wealthy in their own right.

The good old days = when a 3.40 GPA would get you into Cal...though the CA minimum wage was only around $2.50/hour.

Times have changed.

Posted by Skeptical one, a resident of East Palo Alto

>> I wonder if University leadership (not just the sailing coach) will ever get indicted for taking bribes? That would be actual justice. Instead, the public will likely be told that the University President, Provost, etc. had no idea this stuff was happening.... yeah, right.

Actually, I would be very surprised. As discussed previously, these universities already have channels for the wealthy to donate, serve on boards, help with fundraising, and get their kids in and through school. This was referred to as "the back door" during the investigation. Some people consider the back door "corrupt", others don't, but, at least for private universities, it is perfectly legal. Most universities have buildings named after big donors, and, many C students with wealthy parents have gotten through these schools over the years. Since when has higher education been purely a meritocracy? "Ain't it awful?"

This case is about "the side door"-- where low-level admissions and coaching staff being bribed on the side to conspire to get students admitted. University management has every incentive to rub this out. After all, the conspirators didn't pay the universities their share.

Who are we trying to kid? Ourselves via self-denial?

Cheating is a venerable part of Americana. It is a viable ticket to financial, political & athletic success for many aspirants.

Very few individuals succeed financially doing things the honest way.

Not endorsing cheating...just saying it's standard operating procedure.

The Kennedys, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Leland Stanford Sr., Bill Gates, are just a few examples. Might as well add the underworld into the equation as well.

"Behind every great fortune lies a crime." Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

If people were actually honest, there would be less disparity of overall wealth.