Olivia Jade Giannulli, "Daughter of Lori Loughlin, Is Caught Up in College Admissions Scandal/Ms. Giannulli, an influencer with big audiences on YouTube and Instagram, posted sponsored content about being a student" (NYT).
More about the case here, at "College Admissions Scandal: Actresses, Business Leaders and Other Wealthy Parents Charged" (NYT):
Federal prosecutors charged dozens of people on Tuesday in a major college admission scandal that involved wealthy parents, including Hollywood celebrities and prominent business leaders, paying bribes to get their children into elite American universities.So despicable.
Thirty-three parents were charged in the case and prosecutors said there could be additional indictments to come. Also implicated were top college coaches, who were accused of accepting millions of dollars to help admit students to Wake Forest, Yale, Stanford, the University of Southern California and other schools, regardless of their academic or sports ability, officials said....
The authorities say the parents of some of the nation’s wealthiest and most privileged students sought to buy spots for their children at top universities, not only cheating the system, but potentially cheating other hard-working students out of a chance at a college education....
The top-rated comment at the NYT is: "So how do you think the low level Bushes and even lower level Trumps and Kushners got into 'top' schools?"
By the way, I'd never heard of Lori Loughlin before I read about this indictment.
AND: Here's that "I don’t really care about school" "influencer" video.
I don't know about you but this style of speech, mugging, and behavior is like fingernails on the blackboard to me. It actually makes me feel bad to think about young women teaching each other this phony, irritating cutesiness.
Posts
302 comments:
1 – 200 of 302 Newer› Newest»Oooo rich people buying success!
The Bushes were obviously legacies, otherwise known as “affirmative action for white people.”
Why couldn't they pretend to be Indians like our people do?
Of course that’s the top comment. They have to reassure themselves it’s not THEM. Even though the named people so far are TOTALLY them.
"So how do you think the low level Bushes and even lower level Trumps and Kushners got into 'top' schools?"
You think Chelsea Clinton is Stanford/Oxford material?
Wait...Mossimo is a real human being's name - first name, no less - and not just a brand of jeans you'd see in a mall in the 1980s?
Oooo rich people buying success!
Much better to get ahead by checking the right race box.
After all, is it diversity or equality this week?
I'm totally shocked that wealthy, powerful sorts would bribe their childrens way into college.
At any rate, they did it all wrong. They should have paid for a new library or something.
(I was wondering what the heck "tea" meant in this context. Thankfully, urban dictionary is there to help.)
3/12/19, 2:08 PM
I'm surprised they needed to pay bribes. Full tuition is enough for the Chinese.
How did Trump get into Wharton? Since he threatened to sue his high school and the college board if his transcripts ever got leaked, we’ll never know if his grades were good enough or daddy paid.
“Donald Trump and his representatives threatened the colleges he attended and the College Board that he would sue them if records about his academic performance ever became public, Michael Cohen said Wednesday in testimony to a House of Representatives panel.”
They were too honest to check the Native American box.
New money buying their way into schools is terrible.
This sort of thing is reserved for people who had Grandfather Moneybags attend the school and donate over years.
I feel bad for the Asian guy with a 4.0 that didn't get in.
What's the big deal? Libs have already determined that it's OK to cheat deserving, hard-working students out of college spots based on race. So their race happens to be "Stinking Rich."
Blogger Earnest Prole said...
The Bushes were obviously legacies, otherwise known as “affirmative action for white people.”
Remember that Bush's GPA was higher than Kerry's .
I'll never forget going to the financial aid office one year to sign paperwork on my US Army ROTC financial aid package only to have a father hand over that year's boarding/tuition etc. in one cashier's check.
This was is a well-known private university and the check was north of $50k.
I remember telling myself that it's not impossible to 'break into the bigs' when you're competing with family wealth like this but damn...does it sure make things easier.
And then you've got these people...
Zerohedge.com has a photo of them and their 'Kardiashianesque' selves and mom staring through the camera lens at you while mommy purchases admittance for her 'bimbettes' who already make quite a bit as 'influencers'.
Yeah. Throw the motherf*cking book at them...
Total waste of federal resources.
Our Elite DOJ and FBI.
What a fucking joke. Like investigating steroids in baseball while Wall Steeet is melting the economy and guys like Maj Hasan are getting radicalized.
A fucking conspiracy of soccer moms.
Worst ruling class ever.
This is what your DoJ spends its money and resources on, by the way. Which investigations, do you think, were put on the back burner so that Lori Loughlin and her husband could be frog marched in front of cameras?
“Much better to get ahead by checking the right race box.”
Who is being indicted? Racketeering by already rich people to get a leg up.
...not only cheating the system, but potentially cheating other hard-working students out of a chance at a college education....
What they did was despicable, but I doubt it cheated anyone out of a chance at a college education. At most, it forced a few people to go to a school lower down on their list of preferences.
“This is what your DoJ spends its money and resources on, by the way. Which investigations, do you think, were put on the back burner so that Lori Loughlin and her husband could be frog marched in front of cameras?”
I do agree partially. There are much bigger fish to fry.
Yes, this exactly the same pointless but high profile investigations as the PEDs in sports and the present investigations in college basketball recruiting/agents. When you prioritize shit like this, it makes a mockery of the FBI and the DoJ.
bimbettes
When rich people buy thier kid into a school, the family gives the school lots of money but there’s no guarantee of acceptance- wink wink. It looks like these people 1- were cheap didn’t want to pay for a whole dorm or fund a chair, and 2- wanted to make sure they got a ROI.
So a middleman sold it to them.
In what real manner is this different than donating money for a new library and getting your kid in that way? Is it not a bribe because the admissions committee says so? At the core, these charges seem like civil torts to me, not crimes.
“A fucking conspiracy of soccer moms.”
Really?
“Those indicted in the investigation, dubbed "Varsity Blues," allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California, federal prosecutors said.
"This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud," Andrew Lelling, the U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a news conference.”
Yancey,
We posted at the same time. The college basketball shoe scandal is also ridiculous.
Universities are major businesses with a shitload if policies and procedures and employees and contractors to implement and enforce them. Of course universities are as corrupt as the LAPD.
But anyone paying attention knows that. It’s not the job of federal law enforcement to waste time on it. It’s no surprise that guys like McCabe and Strzok flourished in The Bureau. They are a joke.
When i read it I didn’t know what the hell “tea” was supposed to mean, either. But since she was described as an “influencer” I just jumped to the conclusion she was talking about T & A and her instagram would be full of selfies prominently displaying her body in various states of (un)dress.
But apparently it means “gossip”. Oh boy!
I think maybe Professor Althouse needs a new tag, one of my favs, IDGAS.
If you don’t know what it means, check out my Instagram!
A couple of the articles mentioned cheating on the SAT and ACT exams was involved. Wonder how wide spread that is and whether there will be more scrutiny on the testing services.
Tgere is $1.5 trillion in student debt. That is the fucking crime.
Rich people bribing colleges is nothing new.
Just a couple pages of the indictment concerned fraud in the testing. The bulk was about selling these protected slots.
“This is what your DoJ spends its money and resources on, by the way. Which investigations, do you think, were put on the back burner so that Lori Loughlin and her husband could be frog marched in front of cameras?”
I agree. To be clear, I'm not defending these wealthy jerks who buy their kids a spot (hypothetically) out of the hands of more deserving kids. I just think that in the grand scheme this strikes me as relatively small potatoes. The FBI and DOJ aways seems to concern themselves with a lot of high profile, low stakes cases such as this (PEDs, gambling, recruiting ect.). Meanwhile corruption runs rampant in the higest ranks of the institutions themselves.
“Regardless of SPORTS ability”
Because sports ability should count ...
We all should be thankful that our Department of Justice is spending time and effort on prosecuting these crimes (whatever the crimes are).
I hope that no FBI agents were hurt or endangered during the investigation.
As Ann says: "Despicable"! See CTH for more here. Recommend the Dershowitz video.
“What ever the crimes are...”
“Singer is expected to plead guilty in a Boston federal court on Tuesday on charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice, Lelling said.”
"A couple of the articles mentioned cheating on the SAT and ACT exams was involved. Wonder how wide spread that is and whether there will be more scrutiny on the testing services."
Probably epic in scale in big money college athletics and rich white kids. Just an anecdote- it has been 35 years, but I just walked into my SAT and ACT exams, sat down and took the test without any ID. And even if ID was required, not hard to fake one even today. How many proctors are going to tell a black kid he can't sit down to take his test with dodgy ID? Not many, I would guess.
I agree with those who argue that the FBI has better things to do. On the other hand, Is this that much different from insider trading, or other fraudulent behavior? Makes one root even harder for the Asians vs Harvard!
Re: Yancey Ward:
Yeah, why didn't they just endow a chair or pay for a building and bribe the university directly like all the other rich people? Looking at the details, though, I don't think these people had that kind of money. They had the kind of money a successful upper middle class professional might have -- enough to donate a couple hundred thousand, but not, perhaps, a couple million. This whole rigmarole with fake disabilities so they could avoid timed tests and fake athletic records was a cheaper workaround for people who couldn't just pay for a new building.
Anyhow, I do think this is sort of small potatoes, but I can see why they did this. What irritates me is that we aren't seeing more college admissions personnel in the indictment. Just a couple coaches? Really? I find that hard to believe.
As Inga points out the charges are serious; this was not jaywalking!
“...perhaps, a couple million.”
6 million
The top-rated comment at the NYT is: "So how do you think the low level Bushes and even lower level Trumps and Kushners got into 'top' schools?"
The same way Chelsea Clinton got into Stanford, Malia Obama into Harvard, and Sasha Obama into Michigan?
Then they deducted that 6 million from their taxes.
Indict bankers and brokers and do people really notice or remember it for long? The public really sits up for something like this, like with the disc jockey, game show, and sports betting investigations of the 1950s, whether or not those investigations really were on the up and up.
Looking at Olivia Jade's and Felicity Huffman's social media - it's incredible how vapid they are, like the Kardashians or the family in The Bling Ring. The whole thing should have been a plot on Desperate Housewives.
As for the coaches, the proper penalty is firing for cause and suing if the university really feels defrauded and can make a case for real damages.
University administrators thrive on plausible deniability. It is the unofficial motto of every university.
It would be very easy for any university to detect this fraud if it wanted to. It doesn’t want to.
A few years back over 100 freshman at Harvard got caught cheating on a take home test for the class “Intro to Congress”
These are the Best and the Brightest.
I think the NYT article focusing on the daughter and highlighting her instagram career is just cruel. The girl's parents are quite possibly going to end up in prison. The article just twists the knife. I mean, I read it so the journalist did his job and got his clicks, but I still think it's scummy.
So, when are we going to indict politicians spending other people's money to bribe voters into voting for them?
"Then they deducted that 6 million from their taxes."
I am sure a donation to build a library is also deducted from taxes, and junior gets a slot.
At the bottom of most of this is the fact that the right kinds of bribes would have been legal, and some people didn't like getting cut out.
Re: Inga --
I think it's 6 million spread out amongst dozens of people, no? Highest individual number I saw was 500k, but I haven't read all the informations, indictments, etc.
Affirmative action for the rich class, or was diversity (e.g. color, sex) also considered?
Sorry, I guess the total was 25 million, with at least one payment of 1.2 million.
Anyone who compares the Bushes and Trumps with this situation ought to be able to tell us if they also committed tax fraud , as alleged with this crowd.
Can you?
“According to the allegations, those indicted allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million per person to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, UCLA, and Wake Forest.”
http://thesource.com/2019/03/12/hollywood-college-cheating-scandal/
Inga at 2:31 PM
conspiracy to defraud the United States
I don't consider that to be a real crime.
However, since it actually is a crime, I think it should be charged against Andrew McCabe for all his shenanigans against Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions.
It's a crime that DOJ/FBI can use to persecute anybody at all, but it's not a crime that ever can be used to prosecute any DOJ/FBI officials. Sad.
Well, you could build a pretty sweet library for 6 million.
Oh, I absolutely LUV this: "The top-rated comment at the NYT is: "So how do you think the low level Bushes and even lower level Trumps and Kushners got into 'top' schools?"
....that sounds so deliciously millennial! I wonder who posted that - one "of the nation’s wealthiest and most privileged students"?!....either that or some run-of-the-mill Liberal parent who recognizes this Hollywoodish behavior and rushes to say "Ah, those Republicans do this all the time!"
Total waste of federal resources.
I strongly suspect that the admissions fraud cases were handed to the DOJ on a platter. They do have better things to do, but they are not going to turn down an opportunity for a win.
Just last week, some people were enthusing about Paul Manafort needing to do hard prison time.
What about this college admissions scandal? Are you thinking these people (if they're found guilty) really need serious prison time?
A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't.
Oh, I absolutely LUV this: "The top-rated comment at the NYT is: "So how do you think the low level Bushes and even lower level Trumps and Kushners got into 'top' schools?"
....that sounds so deliciously millennial! I wonder who posted that - one "of the nation’s wealthiest and most privileged students"?!....either that or some run-of-the-mill Liberal parent who recognizes this Hollywoodish behavior and rushes to say "Ah, those Republicans do this all the time!"
I don't know about you but this style of speech, mugging, and behavior is like fingernails on the blackboard to me. It actually makes me feel bad to think about young women teaching each other this phony, irritating cutesiness.
It is amazing how all influencers ended up with the exact same style of presenting themselves.
This girl is pretty and rich. Enough to get people to care enough about her opinion to host a Q&A about herself. She was going to be fine wherever/if ever she went to college. How in the world did her parents decide they needed to participate in this sham?
How shallow!!
This kind of thing began in what is now the U.S. of A. with the founding of Harvard in 1636.
I am surprised no commenter so far has brought up what it cost old Joe Kennedy to get his children into Ivy League schools.
It makes me mad, it really does. What we put young people through just to get into college is pretty grueling, and people cheating on the ACT and SAT by paying proctors just makes the whole thing deplorable.
If you play by the rules, you are turned into a sucker.
A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't.
I don't.
I am still pissed that Dartmouth did not accept me back in the day. I had to pay my way through the U. of Illinois.
Maybe some rich kid got my slot unfairly.
What would my life have been like if I were an Ivy League graduate?
Althouse,
You worked at a University for a long time. It’s understandable your defense mechanisms about what you believe they are and what they actually are. It’s impossible to continue to work at a place so long without self deluding. It’s a self preservation instinct.
The rest of us passed through them and saw the bullshit for what it is. This “scandal” is nothing.
Students with $1.5 trillion in debt that is very difficult to pay back is a scandal. It’s understandable that people who make and made their living off this exploitation don’t want to admit it.
Anything that is perceived as high-stakes will have cheating.
It needs to be rooted out.
The stakes need to be lowered. Most people don’t need to go to college. Those who do don’t need to go to Rich Kids colleges to get an education and skills. And there’s no reason it should cost much.
But higher ed is big money for some people. That’s the scam.
This indictment is a joke. It’s meant to distract from the problem that the Government-Higher Ed Complex has created.
Looking at Olivia Jade's and Felicity Huffman's social media - it's incredible how vapid they are, like the Kardashians or the family in The Bling Ring. The whole thing should have been a plot on Desperate Housewives.
I don't know if they're truly as vapid as they make themselves out to be. It's likely they're putting on an act. They know their demographic well. They know what appeals to them, the fantasy of being beautiful and wealthy, of behaving like naive princess.
It's sad that it works. It doesn't say good things about some young women today who clearly find that sort of thing very watchable.
the Government-Higher Ed Complex has created
Unaffordable with a progressive return on a forward-looking basis.
If we’re allowed to make a distinction between the traditional ‘back door’ way in and this ‘side door’ but your way in, why should these people do time vs the old way?
People are accepted to elite colleges for many different reasons, not all of them pass the sniff test. Perhaps the line is somewhere between blatant bribes and the Rocking Chair for Victims Studies funded by (NAME REDACTED), undergraduate class of ‘85.
buy
Althouse said..."Just last week, some people were enthusing about Paul Manafort needing to do hard prison time. ....A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't."
Well, I thought Manafort was a tax-cheat criminal and I thought his sentence (with more to come)was more than simply adequate. In this case, I see the biggest 'criminals' to be those who took the payments and thereby screwed the 'system', their Academic employers, and multiple honest/hardworking applicants. So, yeah, lets SERIOUSLY punish the bribe-paying parents with HUGE fines but let's send the bribe-takers to PRISON.
Ocasio-Cortez is an indictment of Higher Education.
She is Big League Ignorant. Only Elite Schools produce people so ignorant.
After a $250,000 sticker price education she was a bar tender. That’s an honest job that no one needs to go to college to do.
These defendants are all wondering why they didn't get the same treatment as Hillary did with the FBI.
"No reasonable prosecutor...." Immunity deals galore. No grand jury. Etc. Etc.
How does one get paid as an influencer?
Ask Michael Cohen.
But I am still interested in the avocation of being "an influencer." How does one get paid as an influencer?
Have a YouTube channel with tens or hundreds of thousands of followers. Twitch and Patreon also work to a lesser extent.
I saw elsewhere that bribes were paid to get some kid into the University of Texas. It has 42,000 students. That's a low bar.
Ocasio-Cortez is an indictment of Higher Education.
Yes. Perhaps we’re taking this lightly because many of us don’t have a high regard for higher education as it is. Not far to fall, as it were.
Regarding Olivia Jade Giannulli: her parents obviously had high expectations for her.
Without their wealth, her parents would've made 'Jade' her first name, figuring she'd just grow up to be a crack-whore stripper.
But by making it her middle name, they assumed she'd grow up to be a woman who appreciates the finer things of life, and the luxuriating pleasure of not working hard for them.
You know: like one of them FANCY Hollywood whores.
Wipe your lip, dear: we have guests coming over.
I am Laslo.
Manafort was a distraction as well. There are hundreds of people like him in DC.
The problem is DC. Manafort is a pimple.
Same with The Desperate Housewives. Higher Ed is a Swamp.
Ann Althouse said...
Just last week, some people were enthusing about Paul Manafort needing to do hard prison time.
What about this college admissions scandal? Are you thinking these people (if they're found guilty) really need serious prison time?
A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't.
I think everyone in DC should get the Manafort treatment.
Start with Paul Ryan. End with Nancy Pelosi. Get to McConnell and Schiff and Schumer and everyone in between.
So universities are frauds that are finishing schools for rich kids and affirmative action admins. We all know that it is who you know and not what you know. If you are white or Asian and male you better Be rich.
Just how the progressives set the system up want it to be. There is nothing the uniparty globalists hate more than a meritocracy.
Why is this despicable and Elizabeth warren pretending to be Native American ok? The outcome was the same. She cheated to get into college law school and the senate by using phony credentials
Dear AA: Cynicism or bitterness /= taking something lightly.
Most of the above commenters, I feel safe to claim, are deeply pissed and disgusted by this, but the difference between them, and you, is that they were already aware that the system is hopelessly corrupt, so they don't have to act all outraged about it.
I refer specifically here to the so-called "elite schools" where our Ruling Class sends their whelps for credentialing and network-making, not upper-middle-of-the-road lefty colleges, like where you worked.
May I suggest a new tag appropriate for this post: "Outrage bullshit".
This does make me wonder: if you bribe the rowing coach to list you as an athlete, do no other admission criteria apply? I have no experience with the admissions practices of "elite" colleges, but one would think they'd look closely at all potential admits.
Ah, who am I kidding?
In additon to compensation from Youtube, ‘influencer’ channels with followers in six figures begin attract direct sponsors, paid placements, and endorsement opportunities.
Obama put through Net Neutrality.
Netflix is paying Obama $50 million.
Manafort is a smoke screen.
Althouse said...".A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't."...True in some cases, obviously. But equally honestly, that strikes me as a common hallmark of responses on this site (and probably many/most other sites?). I'd call it a function of wanting to sound cleverly sophisticated to an audience.....I'd score that the 2nd most common online-comment style after 'righteousness'.
Maybe now we can finally find out how Obama got into Harvard and what his grades were.
Nah. Let's jill off to Trump fantasies instead.
The Penn basketball coach admitted to taking $300k in bribes. Someone at USC took over one million.
Yeah, send them all up river. And watch Hillary, Humma, Cheryl Mills, Comey, McCabe and Strzok skate. Great system of justice we have.
William H. Macy, the husband of Felicity Huffman and father of Sophia Grace plays a character on show called Shameless, about an extremely disfunctional family. Funnily enough there's a plot in the show about one of the sons doing people's SATs for them.
Here's the thing. Places like USC, Yale and Stanford have a brand. The brand is that only the best and brightest get admitted; be it for academics, the arts or athletics. But it turns out that the not-so-elite can get through those schools and graduate. How's that?
Turns out the top schools aren't all that great. Better to go to a place like Wisconsin or Creighton and really apply yourself in the tough classes. Way cheaper too.
There are separate admissions criteria for athletes. At Ivy League Schools the athletes are also high achieving academically (grades and scores at 25% or above of admitted students) but wouldn’t get In normally because they aren’t legacies and their families aren’t wealthy enough like the Trumps, Bushes, and Obama’s.
But Harvard needs linebackers too. So it’s a way to get in for smart kids.
At a school like Duke, most of the athletes aren’t qualified (scores and grades don’t put them at 25% or above of admitted students). Some are. They are smarter than players at Kentucky.
Duke is one of the schools that serves as the NBA rookie league. Duke is an Elite School. The lieutenant governor of Virginia went there.
I should clarify. The *former* basketball coach at Penn.
She's about to get the Sherman McCoy treatment. She was on top of the pyramid, and now the world has turned upside down and the entire weight of the pyramid will be pressing down on her. Well, maybe it will be a character building experience. Maybe she can use it as a marketing device, the way Kardashian used her sex tape. It will be interesting to see how this plays out for her. I can see either disgrace or further fortune.. Probably she will use her increased fame to bring out a line of toe nail polish and become rich beyond the dreams avarice. The important moral lesson to be learned from this is that there are no important moral lessons to be learned from the study of celebrities, even minor you-tube ones.
Anyone calling themselves a professional "influencer" needs to undergo a drumhead trial followed by an immediately-carried-out sentence.
“Why is this despicable and Elizabeth warren pretending to be Native American ok? The outcome was the same. She cheated to get into college law school and the senate by using phony credentials.”
The outcome was absolutely not the same and she honestly believed she had enough Native American ancestry to be able to check that box. It was not a scam, it was not purposeful. This is a huge problem with you folks. Your perceptions are so fucked up.
Better to use the the title “consultant” than “influencer” or “fixer.”
Paul Ryan and Boehner and Cantir are now “consultants.” Just like Obama is a “consultant” to Netflix.
The main point is that Ivy League diplomas are only as good as they paper they're printed on, and anyone with sense wouldn't automatically hire someone with one, unless they're buying favors.
“Better to go to a place like Wisconsin or Creighton and really apply yourself in the tough classes. Way cheaper too.”
Chances are that these rich kid’s grades weren’t good enough to get into UW Madison.
Warren knew in the 80s about Tribe registry memberships. She lied to get that job at Penn and lied on her Texas bar application as part of her scheme to defraud.
Warren was just another Desperate Housewife.
I haven't seen the news reports, but I bet that William Singer has an immunity deal to rat out his former clients and the people he paid bribes to.
What’s the average student debt at Creighton and Madison over the last 10 years?
What’s the average earnings of those graduates?
This information should be on their websites. It should be easily accessible.
It’s not.
"Wait...Mossimo is a real human being's name - first name, no less - and not just a brand of jeans you'd see in a mall in the 1980s?"
He's actually the founder of the company.
“Warren knew in the 80s about Tribe registry memberships. She lied to get that job at Penn and lied on her Texas bar application as part of her scheme to defraud.”
Does one need to be a member of a tribe to check the Native American box?
No.
any Bronfman/NXIVM connections?
Influencer actually means a somewhat specific thing: A person with a outsized amount of followers/subscribers on social media platforms. Such people have a lot of influence with their audience obviously. But they also have to produce a great deal of content regularly to keep their audience engaged. This isn't as easy as it might seem. Producing a 5 or 10 minute video a few times a week, or craving out sevaral hours of time to live stream and keep it interesting is a fair amount of work.
I strongly disagree with those who suggest this is a waste of FBI/DOJ resources. If this kind of corruption is widespread in the college admissions process, it needs to be be exposed and rooted out. You need prosecutions like this to create deterrence. Some people want to minimize it or treat it as a joke because vacuous rich people were involved -- where's the sense in that? If you don't want to live in a banana republic, a case like this should matter to you.
The University of Illinois has gotten into trouble more than once over the decades with politician influence. Not enough slots for residents’ children who should be able to get in.
Oooo rich people buying success!
Then there are sports scholarships where the student can’t meet basic academic requirements and get a free ride.
There are students who do meet academic requirements but aren’t illegals Who get free rides.
Via Insty:
The White House is weighing a measure that would require colleges and universities to take a financial stake in their students’ ability to repay government loans, an effort that could squeeze loan availability to students and reduce defaults....
The scandal here is not that rich people could pay to get their kids into good schools. That's been going on for centuries. As I understand it, one needs to make at least a 7-figure donation to get your kid into one of these schools. As was pointed out, these people wanted to do it on the cheap, and were willing to fake test scores and athletic skills. So that's the crime.
But I don't see how it's a federal crime and "defrauding the United States."
I'd rather be the good looking kid of rich, famous parents than a graduate from an Ivy League college. You're born with an air of self assurance that no amount of education can buy.
"Does one need to be a member of a tribe to check the Native American box?"
Do you think blonde, blue-eyed Elizabeth Warren felt she'd been held back in life by gate-keepers reacting to her race? If not, why would Warren feel entitled to a position set aside for a person who had been so held back?
The system is rigged by cash bribes. That is perfect on the job training for Congress and the other Senior Executive Service jobs.
“But I don't see how it's a federal crime and "defrauding the United States."
How about deducting the bribe on your taxes? That’s what these people or some of them did.
"Influencer"?
I am so out of touch.
For all those mentioing Creighton, please recall alumnus Dexter Manley, who was a multi-season All-Pro player for the Washington Redskins. After his pro football career he revealed that he couldn’t read.
As for Madison, when I was a post-doc in the mid ‘80s I dated a B-school student who tutored football players. Same story—she had to write the course assignments for them. Same as it ever was...
My daughter had the credentials to get into Georgetown but was rejected. Did she lose a spot to one of these swells? We’ll never be able to prove it, but so it goes. She’s having a great career at a Jesuit university in a less desirable zip code, but on the bright she won’t ever have to explain why her alma mater was selling indulgences.
Why not automate the process? Dodge all this scruffy face to face stuff with ATMs and such?
“Do you think blonde, blue-eyed Elizabeth Warren felt she'd been held back in life by gate-keepers reacting to her race? If not, why would Warren feel entitled to a position set aside for a person who had been so held back?”
So Warren’s blue eyes and blond hair should’ve prohibited her checking the Native American box if she sincerely thought she was?
"Looking at Olivia Jade's and Felicity Huffman's social media - it's incredible how vapid they are, like the Kardashians or the family in The Bling Ring. The whole thing should have been a plot on Desperate Housewive"
Vapid? I'll say:
Felicity Huffman
✔
@FelicityHuffman
Voter love
WE LOVE HILLARY! @HillaryClinton #electionday #ImWithHer
4,967
1:21 PM - Nov 8, 2016
Felicity Huffman
✔
@FelicityHuffman
The Trump admin's new rule puts birth control coverage for 62M women at risk. Retweet if you think they should get their #HandsOffMyBC.
Checking a box when you aren’t an Indian is a fraud move. Warren knee she wasn’t an Indian.
Now we all know thanks to her DNA test and the Tribe leader saying she’s not a member.
Of course Harvard defends her. They are a Scumbag Institution like so many in higher ed.
The Best and The Brightest.
"A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't."
A lot of people seem to be taking the inherent corruption and unfairness of college admissions, and for that matter law school admissions, lightly. I sure don't.
For all those mentioing Creighton, please recall alumnus Dexter Manley, who was a multi-season All-Pro player for the Washington Redskins. After his pro football career he revealed that he couldn’t read.
Manley attended Oklahoma State.
Inga
The outcome was absolutely not the same and she honestly believed she had enough Native American ancestry to be able to check that box. It was not a scam, it was not purposeful. This is a huge problem with you folks. Your perceptions are so fucked up.
How much ancestry is "enough?" She knew her parents were not Indian. She knew her grandparents weren't Indian. She most definitely checked that box to give her a leg up. And Harvard made a point of her being their first Native American professor so they too were getting a leg up on the intersectional sweepstakes.
Do you give a hoot about any real Indian who might have been misplaced by Warren, a person who might have had to overcome real struggle?
Decency and integrity would prevent someone from lying about their race to get ahead.
Warren is no better than Trump. She’s actual worse. She is a hypocrite.
That is a pretty dumb angle to take for this story, NYT. The kids were not trying to drum up influencer business by being students. Their parents were trying to buy their kids' credentials they didn't deserve to preserve their status as elites. I bet that angle hits a little too close to home for most of the NYT crowd.
By the way, I'd never heard of Lori Loughlin before I read about this indictment.
You and me both. You found out before me- because I found out from this post.
I'm also not one of the 2 million YouTube or 1 million Instagram followers of Olivia Jade Giannulli, and this is the first I've heard of her. Also the first I've heard of Mossimo Giannulli.
College admission scandals? How quaint. Next thing you know, we'll be investigating how Chelsea got into college, of how her degree enabled her to immediately get a $600,000.00 a year job from NBC.
"So Warren’s blue eyes and blond hair should’ve prohibited her checking the Native American box if she sincerely thought she was?"
Yes.
You are right—Manley graduated from OSU, and later revealed that he was illiterate. The Creighton alum was Kevin Ross, a basketball player who also graduated as illiterate. Same as it ever was...
The NYT staffers are the biggest social strivers. They are throne sniffers.
People with capability don’t care about credentials. But so few of these people are capable.
How about deducting the bribe on your taxes? That’s what these people or some of them did.
I just saw that in the NYT article. That seems especially stupid. Deducting illegal payments? Don't they realize that's how the Feds got Capone? Save a bit of money but increase the chance of getting caught, and the penalties.
The Deep Stste always indicts celebrities right around tax time. I remember when they did it to Darryl Strawberry and Lenny Dykstra.
This has the added benefit of tarnishing Hallmark Television icon Lori Loughlin to stick a finger in the eye of the deplorable fan base. I am sure there are a shitpot full of Kennedy and Biden spawn who could be part of this. Selective prosecution. Manafort all the way down.
she honestly believed she had enough Native American ancestry to be able to check that box.
You don't know that, you're just asserting it. More likely that it was too good to bother to verify. Yeah, I know they didn't have DNA testing back then, but anyone with any pride and dignity would have not claimed to be a 'person of color' in the absence of any affirmative evidence. It's not that hard to check genetic records going back a couple of generations, if not more.
The schools are equally at fault for their lax due diligence for acceptance.
East Coast/West Coast types. Probably all people with DTS too.
So they paid big bucks and bribes for their useless offspring to take the place of a deserving student.
Probably some undesirable Asian type who studies hard, gets good grades, has potential to do something with their life or even contribute to society.
Can't have those nasty geeky losers in there.
After the college that they don't deserve to be at, they will all come out as stupid, illiterate, un-educated as AOC.
Deplorables....meet your betters. /sarcasm
Inga...Allie Oop said...
So Warren’s blue eyes and blond hair should’ve prohibited her checking the Native American box if she sincerely thought she was?
You people are such a ridiculous joke.
If you didn't have double standards you would have none at all.
We all know the only thing you care about is power over other people.
You must never be allowed to have it.
Well they got the author for the modern guide to girls and a wilkie farr partner.
This prosecution is stupid.
The real problem is that these universities can admit dumbshits like this and still maintain their reputation. This can only happen because the vested institutions trade on something other than merit which just how the rich progressives want it to be.
The penalty for this kind of thing is for employers to discount diplomas from these shitty institutions.
But they don't because the people that staff the giant corporations all help maintain the sham. Giant corporations team up with big government to freeze out competition and they both team up with universities to drive all opportunities to legacies and affirmative action hires.
Harvard needs to be burned to the ground.
Ann Althouse said...
"A lot of you seem to be taking this case very lightly. I sure don't."
Really. Imagine if your life depended on one of these girls being able to power a rowing shell.
ffft. Yes I am taking it lightly. It's been more than than 40 years since I was in college. In those days, and in my family, women went to college to find a husband. I did, and walked in on him, and another man in your marital bed little more than a year later.
My son chose the Marine Corp and tech school. He is now running a shop that restores British, French and Italian sports cars and makes good money. Even more, he loves what he does.
Colleges have made their beds and now they get to lie in them. How many people have brought us amazing developments without college. Even the STEM fields could use an upheaval. People can learn to be doctors or physicists without ivy-covered walls.
They deserve everything they get.
I am sure there are a shitpot full of Kennedy and Biden spawn who could be part of this. Selective prosecution.
Biden's surviving son is a dope dealer and has been through the legal system, I believe.
No mention of arrest so maybe another scot free.
I’m guessing Mom and Dad paid for all the You Tube and Instagram followers as well.
Leasing bot followers to the Rich and Famous is good money.
In the midst of the utter corruption that is the modern American University system, in which billionaire "private" institutions which pay no taxes and receive billions in government grants and subsidies, while tricking gullible and naive children into assuming tens of thousands of dollars of debt in return for useless "degrees" in wholly imaginary fields of study, Althouse has found something despicable that she takes very seriously. It turns out to be a couple of dumb cunts who suck dick better than they pull oar.
Biden’s kid got a huge contract from China. China pays a lot of DC people good money to get their way.
Biden’s Son also left his wife and kid’s for his dead brother’s wife and kids.
These people have the morals of a cat.
They are no better than Trump. They just act like they are.
After his pro football career he revealed that he couldn’t read.
Manley attended Oklahoma State.
There was a player from Cal with the same story. He played for San Diego and worse glasses but I don't think they helped.
And then there is this from Instapundit.
ALL IS PROCEEDING AS I HAVE FORESEEN: White House Might Put Colleges on the Hook for Student Loans: Executive order under consideration would require schools to take financial stake when students don’t repay.
The White House is weighing a measure that would require colleges and universities to take a financial stake in their students’ ability to repay government loans, an effort that could squeeze loan availability to students and reduce defaults.
For several months, Trump administration officials have been discussing enacting such a mechanism or making a push for one in Congress as part of a broader effort to combat rising college costs.
In the administration’s budget proposal released Monday, officials made brief mention of a “request to create an educational finance system that requires postsecondary institutions that accept taxpayer funds to have skin in the game through a student loan risk-sharing program.”
Such a proposal could be included in a coming executive order addressing higher education, several officials said.
You heard it here first. Though remember this? Senate Democrats push for colleges to have “skin in the game” on student loan defaults. “In a call with reporters, Senators Richard Durbin of Illlinois, Jack Reed of Rhode Island and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts highlighted a package of new and existing proposals aimed at reducing the burden of student debt. Durbin acknowledged that the senators had had ‘limited success’ in getting Republican support for the measures, but said they will be a centerpiece of the Democratic agenda in the Senate in 2014. One of the more controversial new proposals, to be introduced by Reed, would require colleges with high student loan default rates to pay a penalty to the government that is proportional to the defaulted debt.”
So Trump can honestly say this is an idea with bipartisan support.
Flashback: “Up until now, the loan guarantees have meant that colleges, like the writers of subprime mortgages a few years ago, got their money up front, with any problems in payment falling on someone else. Make defaults expensive to colleges, and they’ll become much more careful about how much they lend and what kinds of programs they offer.”
Permalink • 1:46 pm by Glenn Reynolds
“Singer is expected to plead guilty in a Boston federal court on Tuesday on charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice, Lelling said.”
Kinda sounds like Manafort's crimes. But I bet the Libs here don't object to the DOJ time and money spent on Manafort because that's different......and Orange Man Bad.
It actually makes me feel bad to think about young women teaching each other this phony, irritating cutesiness.
Oy! You don't ever watch the Disney Family Channel or other channels of that ilk on cable, do you? That sort of behavior is just everywhere!
My phrase for it is that American girls swim in a Sea of Bitch.
Idiots. You pay the schools not the coaches.
Jupiter.
Althouse stuck her head in the sand a long time ago about how Higher Ed works. In fairness, most professors don’t know and don’t want to know. They just work there.
She’s worried about plagiarism and sexual harassment while students and their families are getting a house of debt dropped on them for marginal economic prospects.
Boutique issues that professors can really sink their teeth into while the administration keeps running the scam.
Dummies. You gotta pay the right people. And don't be a such tight ass about it either.
Titus,
It was cheaper to pay the coaches and then pay the tuition than to donate $5 million.
It was a smart scam.
"You think Chelsea Clinton is Stanford/Oxford material?"
Well, Webb Hubbell was a fairly smart guy, for flyover country at least.
mccullough,
"The stakes need to be lowered. "
Be still my beating heart! Are we on the road to getting Griggs v Duke Power and its progeny overturned?
These people are wealthy but not that wealthy. If they had better political connections that would have helped.
@Inga: "The outcome was absolutely not the same and she honestly believed she had enough Native American ancestry to be able to check that box. It was not a scam, it was not purposeful. This is a huge problem with you folks. Your perceptions are so fucked up."
She only believed herself to be 1/32 Native American. I don't see how any sane person would consider that enough to make the claim they are a minority to take advantage of affirmative action, even if it were true. As I pointed out here several months ago, I have substantial proof - via two independently conducted DNA analyses - that this old Southern redneck is 1/32 African, but I would never seek to take advantage of that by claiming to be African-American. Not only would that be unethical but I would probably be publicly humiliated for trying to make such a claim and most of my family and friends would be laughing their asses off.
Just last week, some people were enthusing about Paul Manafort needing to do hard prison time.
What about this college admissions scandal? Are you thinking these people (if they're found guilty) really need serious prison time?
Sure. Why not? If Manafort is guilty of a similar crime as these people and people are enthusing about him doing hard time, why shouldn't these people who have committed similar crimes get the same hard time?
Oh...wait. I know. They are not Trump, Trump supporters, or even eeeeeevil Republicans. So way different then.
One rule for Democrats, special exemptions for Hillary Clinton and another rule for everyone else.
Why is this a federal offense?
Althouse views with alarm. Law Profs are probably not in line for bribes.
@Limited blogger: Mail fraud.
These people shouldn’t go to prison because that costs us money. I wasn’t Part of this scam.
Prison is for people who are violent or pull big financial scams.
This is shoplifting. Fine them and send them on their way. Maybe we can make the multimillion visits of this FBI snipe hunt back in fines.
Then fire every FBI agent and prosecutor involved in this worthless investigation. Save the taxpayers some money. Because these jobs are a bigger scam than the one The Desperate Housewives pulled.
These people probably pissed off someone in the federal government apparatus.
Just like the feds in the DOJ selectively prosecute Manafort and not the Podesta brothers who were his bosses when he committed the crimes.
This is a selective prosecution. You know there are hundreds of others that are known to the DOJ who did this too.
She spends a lot of money on eyebrows.
This is the fluff investigation that mediocre bureaucrats pull. Stupid and waste of tax dollars
The Department of Justice should not be considered “independent.”
Barr should put a stop to this or Trump should fire him. Total waste of money by headline grabbing Holkywoid bureaucrats.
A fucking joke. Next time Wall Street jagoifs need another bailout or some jihadi like Hassan kills a dozen people, let’s remember that the FBI was busy protecting the integrity of the admissions process at USc and Yale.
Did they lead the pack or did they respond in kind to PC and classes above them? Why are they peeling away a mid-range layer now?
Shoutout to Mad as Hell: Yes. My question would be to youtube girl: Are your eyebrows really yours?
“Kinda sounds like Manafort's crimes. But I bet the Libs here don't object to the DOJ time and money spent on Manafort because that's different......and Orange Man Bad.”
What Libs here are objecting to the DOJ spending time and money on this Varsity Blues scandal?
Ok, obviously all of us adults hear this and think it sounds so callow. But I've always been troubled by the following question: listen to some 14 year old play the cello or the piano or etc, and then How can this totally inexperienced even stupid teenager pull so much meaning and emotion out of Bach (or Mozart, or etc.)? Is there a musical maturity that installs at age 9, whereas the social or personally romantic maturity does not install until age 27?
There are so many sad things going on here. There are lots of good schools out there. There are lots of places where a student can get a great start in life: to learn to be conscious and aware, to learn to work thoroughly and diligently, to learn to think critically. That's what most successful people get out of college.
The only real advantages of an "elite" school are twofold: who you meet there and the seal of approval on your resume.
There are 300,000 alumni of Big 10 schools in the Chicago area. Every one of them had a chance for an excellent education at a reasonable cost.
This scandal is evidence of twisted values at the top of the food chain.
As I pointed out here several months ago, I have substantial proof - via two independently conducted DNA analyses - that this old Southern redneck is 1/32 African, but I would never seek to take advantage of that by claiming to be African-American.
You may not consider yourself "colored", but as far as some of the anti-miscegenation in force during Jim Crow (I know this was the rule in Georgia and Alabama, I would have to do some research about other states), a "single drop of non-white(Georgia) [or] Negro (Alabama)" blood made you subject to them.
The hardest part about being one of these Hot Chick Influencers is hiding the herpes on your lip when filming your latest bit about fun, fun, fun.
I am Laslo.
There are 300,000 alumni of Big 10 schools in the Chicago area. Every one of them had a chance for an excellent education at a reasonable cost.
Except the Northwestern graduates.
"So despicable."
Yeah! The parents were supposed to pay the Universities several million dollars, endowing a building!
How dare they just pay half a million to someone less greedy than the college administrators?
White House Might Put Colleges on the Hook for Student Loans: Executive order under consideration would require schools to take financial stake when students don’t repay.
This could be a game changer. I don't want to see just a penalty though. Make the schools repay the loans in full.
I sure wouldn’t bother. These are private schools, and should be able to do whatever they want. Their employees - not so much. Think of it this way - the schools make money on the bribes and charging full tuition, and lose it with those who get scholarships. The more they get bribed, the more people that they can help with tuition, giving middle class kids the chance to go to schools that their parents could not afford to send them to. Win/win in my view.
I don't want to see just a penalty though. Make the schools repay the loans in full.
Why stop there. Take a page from the leftie Evil Corporations Playbook: Criminal penalties for profs and administrators.
“This scandal is evidence of twisted values at the top of the food chain.”
Yes indeed.
Inga...Allie Oop said...
How did Trump get into Wharton? Since he threatened to sue his high school and the college board if his transcripts ever got leaked, we’ll never know if his grades were good enough or daddy paid.
Let me know when Barack Obama's college transcripts and law school transcripts get released.
Let me know when BO's Senior Thesis gets released.
Let me know when the LA Times releases the Obama Khalidi tape.
Until then, you don't get to bitch about Trump doing the same.
Limited blogger said...
Why is this a federal offense?
I'm not a lawyer, but it does involve defendants in different states and interstate commerce of a sort.
"Except the Northwestern graduates."
Fair point on the cost. Northwestern is a great school, like the other Big 10 schools.
responding to Mountain Man who said: "this old Southern redneck is 1/32 African, but I would never seek to take advantage of that by claiming to be African-American"
Wait until we have "reparations" and your 1/32 African genes are worth $200,000. Then get back to me about whether you still refuse to take advantage.
It's a free market. The schools should let in anybody they want.
If not on merit, some other school will sweep up the good students.
My dad and I talked about this in the 80s. I think Harvard refused to go after doctors or give the feds their information on the doctors who still owed on their student loans to attend the school.
I’m having difficulty grasping the sanctity of college admissions.
There’s a reason I”m supposed to give a shit?
Blogger WK said...
A couple of the articles mentioned cheating on the SAT and ACT exams was involved. Wonder how wide spread that is and whether there will be more scrutiny on the testing services.
If you have the right t"disability", you get unlimited time to take the SAT. Apparently that's what Mom bought for her daughter.
Did want to buy her a ringer who'd get too high of a score, because she felt her daughter was known to be too stupid for the score to be believable.
Some people are becoming parody.
Almost all Schools are dependent on federal loans to students and research grants.
Higher Ed is not a “free market.” It’s a scam.
And when the Scam crashes the taxpayers are on the hook again. But none of the people responsible are going to get put in prison.
Just The Desperate Housewives.
So some parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their kid into a school that they then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for the kid to attend and, maybe, get degree in a worthless academic discipline.
The best and brightest, indeed.
I watched a minute of the video. Olivia is horrible.
Donations from the wealthy to colleges are tax deductible.
That’s not a free market either.
Rick said...
"This could be a game changer. I don't want to see just a penalty though. Make the schools repay the loans in full."
The schools should be guaranteeing the loans. It is a general ethical rule that the party with the most information assumes the most risk.
Put the burden on the schools and make the loans dischargeanle in bankruptcy.
Then turn those campuses into golf courses where they can be put to good use.
Felicity Huffman?? But no Bill Macey. She must have rehearsed him once too often for that role (Jerry Lundegaard) in "Fargo". My prediction: her defense will be that she was doing field work for a revival of "Desperate Housewives".
Not to mention I'm sure crew even has scholarships because of Title 9. What does it say that a coach is willing to sell two spots?
Inga: "The outcome was absolutely not the same and she honestly believed she had enough Native American ancestry to be able to check that box. It was not a scam, it was not purposeful. This is a huge problem with you folks. Your perceptions are so fucked up."
That’s baloney. Your perception is fucked up because a lot of us whose families have been here generations can say the same. Some of us weren’t raised like that. I’m entitled to do that because of family lore? Pitiful. The blonde gamed the system for her advantage. No honor.
Hahahahaha! CNN just had a screensplash- "Top actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin..." and I thought, maybe this is turning out to be a pretty great day for Lori Laughlin. *
(*reminds me of my favorite Althouse joke, speculating that ZaZa Gabour was trying to die to get into a particularly noteworthy triangle)
rhhardin said...
It's a free market. The schools should let in anybody they want.
No, it's not a free market. Is a Federally subsidized market, see that $1.5 trillion in student loans.
She says, "like", like a million times less in five minutes of, like talking, than AOC.
In those days, and in my family, women went to college to find a husband.
Back in the early 70's we called that "seeking an MRS degree."
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