Fired University of Southern California athletic official pleads guilty in college scam case

The Varsity Blues confessors keep piling up like a bad junior varsity team.

The latest to give in is USC’s Donna Heinel, 60, of Long Beach, Calif., who pleaded guilty Friday to honest services wire fraud two weeks before her trial.

Heinel was accused of being paid $20,000 a month by college scam mastermind Rick Singer, who is assisting the feds in this case, while she was a top athletic administrator at the University of Southern California. Prosecutors allege she helped 24 or more students fake their way into the elite university via a total of $1.3 million in bribes.

USC fired her in 2019.

“Heinel solicited and received bribe payments from William ‘Rick’ Singer and his clients to facilitate their children’s admission to USC as athletic recruits,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said Friday.

She faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 at her March 11, 2021, sentencing. According to the New York Times, she may face up to 46 months in prison.

Three remaining Varsity Blues parents are set to go on trial in January out of a total of 57 moms and dads, test-takers, consultants, coaches and administrators. Most have pleaded guilty — including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who has already rekindled her career.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3CSdIML