California vintner sentenced in college admissions scam

A California wine mogul was sentenced Friday to five months in jail and was given a $100,000 fine for agreeing to pay a total of $300,000 to have his daughter’s SAT score artificially inflated and have her fraudulently recruited to the University of Southern California as a water polo player.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court in Boston, Judge Indira Talwani also sentenced Agustin Francisco Huneeus, 53, of San Francisco to 500 hours of community service and two years of supervised release.

Prosecutors had recommended 15 months in jail and a $95,000 fine for Huneeus, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud as a result of the nationwide “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions investigation.

Although he could have received up to 20 years in prison, Talwani said, “The government has not succeeded (in convincing me) in any of these cases that I should sentence them for their brashness or their selfishness.”

“I don’t start from the premise that these are not decent people,” she said.

Huneeus apologized in court, saying he had “harmed and disappointed everyone who loved me or cared about me.”

“Nothing has a larger impact on income inequality and social mobility than a college education,” he added. “I am deeply ashamed of myself for taking part in a scheme that could have taken a deserving student’s future away. My actions threatened to disadvantage the very people the system was already stacked against.”

Huneeus is one of more than 50 parents, coaches and admissions officials charged as a result of the investigation.

Wealthy parents, including “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin, were accused of paying ringleader William “Rick” Singer to arrange cheating on their children’s SATs or to have them admitted to universities as athletic recruits, even if they had never played sports.

Felicity Huffman, Devin Sloane, Stephen Semprevivo and Gordon Caplan were sentenced to two weeks, four months, four months and one month in jail, respectively.

Loughlin’s case is due for a status hearing in January.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2LNDFFd