First 12 defendants in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal will appear in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday —  USC [photo] fields the highest number of the defendants

The men and women who allegedly accepted millions of dollars in kickbacks in exchange for their roles in the college admission scandal Operation Varsity Blues are set to appear in federal court in Boston on Monday.
The 12 individuals include: seven former college coaches who allegedly accepted bribe money from parents after sneaking their children through the admission process; two of the proctors who are accused of turning a profit by taking exams for high school students; two former employees at the charitable foundation run by William Rick Singer; and a professional tennis coach from Texas.

All of the defendants are facing 20 years behind bars on racketeering charges, with the total amount of money paid to coaches alone said to have $25 million, according to prosecutors.

At the center of the scandal are the Edge College & Career Network, run by William Rick Singer [Photo], who has already pled guilty to racketeering charges

At the center of the scandal are the Edge College & Career Network, run by William rick Singer,  also known as the Key, and a nonprofit organization, the Key Worldwide Foundation, that prosecutors say effectively were a single enterprise. They are accused of helping students cheat on standardized tests, and paying bribes to athletic coaches who could get the students into college using fake athletic credentials.

The first 12 defendants in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal will appear in federal court in Boston, Massachusetts on Monday.
The scam first came to light back in 2018 because of a corrupt coach.
Yale soccer coach Rudy Meredith allegedly offered to secure a spot at the Ivy League institution to one deep-pocketed father for a heft sum – $450,000.
Unfortunately for Meredith and the 49 other individuals now awaiting trial, that deal happened to be offered to a financial executive who was being investigated by the FBI for securities fraud.

And so, in hopes that he would be granted some leniency in his own case, the man told the FBI about the scheme Meredith was running at Yale.
eredith soon flipped and became a cooperating witness in the case alongside mastermind William Rick Singer.
It was Singer who was first to appear in court last week, and on Monday these 12 defendants are having their day.

Donna Heinel, 57, University of Southern California
Heinel is the former senior associate athletic director at USC, having been fired in the wake of this scandal. She is also the lone administrator to have been indicted at this time amid allegations she let over two dozen students in to the college who were never meant to compete for the school.
The indictment filed two weeks ago states that Singer’s clients paid over $1.3 million into accounts overseen by Heinel. In an odd twist, Heinel also runs a service advising parents how to abide by NCAA rules and regulations.

Gordon Ernst, 52, Georgetown University 
Ernst accepted $2.7 million in bribes between 2012 and 2018 to help students gain admission by designating at least 12 applicants as tennis recruits, according to his indictment.
He was then placed on leave in December 2017 after the admissions office ‘identified irregularities in his recruitment practices,’ said the school. He was fired in 2018 but quickly picked up a job at the University of Rhode Island.

William Ferguson, 48, Volleyball coach at Wake Forest
Ferguson is accused of accepting $100,000 for helping a student gain acceptance to the North Carolina university when she was placed on a wait list. The volleyball coach is now out of a job but there is no intention of expelling the student at this time.

Jorge Salcedo, 46,  Soccer coach University of California Los Angeles
The soccer coach resigned after allegations came out that he helped enroll two individuals at UCLA using fake athletic profiles.

Ali Khoroshahin, 49 and Laura Janke, 36, University of Southern California
Singer paid approximately $350,000 to an account controlled by the two soccer coaches, states the indictment. The pair allegedly took in four students who they claimed to be soccer players, thus allowing them to skate through the admissions process despite having never played at a competitive level. 

Jovan Vavic, 57, Water polo coach University of Southern California
Singer and parents paid out over $250,000 to a bank account controlled by the water polo coach, according to the indictment. In addition, Singer is said to have funded the cost of school for Vavic’s children.

Igor Dvorskiy, 52, employee at College Board and ACT
It was Dvorsky, a test administrator, who would allow another individual to edit tests for the teens while overseeing the SAT and ACT at a test center in West Hollywood, according to legal filings. In exchange he would receive approximately $10,000 per exam claim prosecutors, with Felicity Huffman’s daughter among those who benefited from this alleged cheating.

Lisa “Niki” Williams, 44, employee at  College Board and ACT
Williams allegedly did the same thing as Dvorskiy, but in the Houston area. She would administer the exams at the high school where she worked, though she has since lost that job and her position with the College Board and ACT.

Martin Fox – Private tennis coach
Touted tennis coach Martin Fox  is accused of making introductions that were crucial to Singer’s scam.
Coaches at both the University of Texas and University of California-San Diego all came to meet Singer thanks to Fox, who was allegedly paid over $250,000 for making these connections.

Steven Masera, 69, employee at Key Worldwide Foundation
It was Masera who would allegedly take the funds donated by parents into the Key charitable fund and then funnel that money off to coaches or those aiding the in the testing scam, according to prosecutors.
Many of these payments are out in the open as well on the tax returns filed by Key over the past six years.

Mikaela Sanford, 32, employee at Key Worldwide Foundation
In some extreme cases, parents allegedly paid Singer to find a person to take online classes for their children.
Sanford is accused of taking those classes by prosecutors, while also allegedly fabricating athletic profiles for the parents of students.

John Vandemoer [photo], former head sailing coach at Stanford, arrives at federal court in Boston on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, where he pled guilty to charges in the nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.

Parents caught up in college corrupt admissions scam
Federal prosecutors accused dozens of parents of paying millions of dollars in bribes to help their children secure spots at prestigious American universities.

Gamal Abdelaziz, a senior executive of a resort and casino operator

Gregory and Marcia Abbott. Gregory is the founder and chairman of a packaging company for the food and beverage industry, and the former head of a private-label clothing manufacturer

Diane Blake, an executive at a retail merchandising firm, and Todd Blake, entrepreneur and investor

Jane Buckingham, chief executive of a boutique marketing company

Gordon Caplan, a lawyer and a co-chairman of the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher

I-Hsin “Joey” Chen, a provider of warehousing and related services for the shipping industry

Amy and Gregory Colburn. Gregory is a physician.

Robert Flaxman, chief executive of a Los Angeles-based real estate development firm

Mossimo Giannulli, fashion designer, and Lori Loughlin, actress

Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez. Manuel was the founder, chairman and chief executive of Hercules Capital.

Douglas Hodge, former chief executive of Pimco, one of the world’s biggest bond fund managers

Felicity Huffman, actress

Agustin Huneeus, owner of vineyards in Napa, Calif.

Bruce and Davina Isackson. Bruce is the president of a real estate development firm.

Michelle Janavs, a former executive of a food manufacturer

Elisabeth Kimmel, owner of a media company

Marjorie Klapper, co-owner of a jewelry business

Toby MacFarlane, a former senior executive at a title insurance company

William E. McGlashan Jr., a senior executive at TPG, one of the world’s biggest private equity firms

Marci Palatella, chief executive of a liquor distributor

Peter Jan “P.J.” Sartorio, a packaged-food entrepreneur

Stephen Semprevivo, an executive at Cydcor, an outsourcing company

David Sidoo, president and chief executive of Advantage Lithium Corp., a lithium explorer and developer, and an executive at East West Petroleum Corp., an oil and gas company. Both are based in Canada.

Devin Sloane, founder and chief executive of Aquatecture, a drinking water and wastewater systems business

John Wilson, founder and chief executive of a private-equity and real estate development firm

Homayoun Zadeh, an associate professor of dentistry at U.S.C.

Robert Zangrillo, founder and chief executive of a Miami-based venture capital and real estate firm