Feds want ‘Varsity Blues’ leader’s stake in former Premier League soccer team
The feds want to seize over $3 million in assets from admitted college admissions scandal mastermind Rick Singer, including his state in a former British Premier League soccer team.
Singer, who signed a plea agreement with the feds last February, is the architect of the $25 million “Varsity Blues” scheme in which prosecutors say parents paid top dollar for assistance organizing fake test scores and securing phony athletic recruitment slots at prestigious colleges.
Prosecutors Monday filed a final order of forfeiture with U.S. District Court, requesting federal judge Rya Zobel grant the move Singer’s bank accounts and assets from his Key Worldwide Foundation, which allegedly masked parents’ six-figure bribe payments as charitable donations.
Among the assets feds are requesting from KWF include an investment in Swansea Football Club, the company that owns Swansea City AFC, a former Premier League soccer club now playing in England’s second-tier Championship League.
An exhibit filed with the court includes summonses for representatives of Swansea in the United States, including a Chicago attorney representing investors.
The attorney and Swansea did not return requests for comment.
Other Foundation assets listed for forfeiture include investments in a hedge fund, a networking site for PhDs, a data company and a 10% control interest and investment in Sharky’s, a Mexican restaurant chain.
Federal prosecutors said in their filing that $3,429,970 should be entered in the form of a forfeiture money judgement for the collective assets.
Singer’s attorney didn’t return a request for comment.
Federal judge Rya Zobel has not yet acted on the government’s request, and it is unclear if the forfeiture signals a move toward sentencing for Singer, who last had a closed telephone conference with prosecutors in October.
The government’s request comes as parents and coaches fighting bribery and fraud charges have requested Singer’s FBI interviews and transcripts of thousands of his phone calls and text messages. Actress Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli, accused of paying a combined $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as bogus crew recruits, have requested an oral argument in the evidence fight.
A recent court filing suggested the sides could meet in court in June, while defendants are not required to attend a status conference later this month.
from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/31mMZ93
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