Unrelated Securities Fraud Tipster Led Investigators To College Admissions Scam

U.S. Attorney for District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling, left, announces indictments in a sweeping college admissions bribery scandal; this image shows a stock image of a pole vaulter used to help pad students' applications

The fallout continues for parents accused of paying thousands, even millions, to cheat standardized tests and take "side doors" into prestigious universities... and write-off the payments as tax deductions. And now we know how investigators were clued-in to the scam in the first place.

The person who helped unravel the scheme was Los Angeles finance executive Morrie Tobin. Tobin was being investigated for an unrelated securities fraud and decided to offer the feds a tip: a Yale soccer coach had offered to get Tobin's daughter into Yale if he paid him $450,000. "To help investigators catch Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith, Mr. Tobin wore a wire to a meeting in a Boston hotel room with Mr. Meredith in April 2018, the person familiar with the matter said. At that meeting, Mr. Meredith said he could designate Mr. Tobin’s daughter as a recruit for the team in exchange for $450,000, this person said," according to the WSJ.

Tobin, a Yale graduate, was not involved in the college admissions scandal and has reportedly entered a plea agreement for the securities fraud.

Actress Lori Loughlin, who allegedly paid $500,000 to ensure her daughters would be accepted by the University of Southern California, has been fired from the Hallmark Channel and is unlikely to return for the final season of Fuller House. Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli, a fashion designer, were charged this week with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud; they were released after they each put up $1 million bond.

According to the criminal complaint, the couple used the services of college admissions consultant William "Rick" Singer to have their daughters apply as rowers, though they were not on the rowing team in high school. An athletics official at USC would then ensure their acceptance. (That official was also charged for her role in the scam.) Loughlin and Giannulli's daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose have reportedly withdrawn from USC, fearing that they will be bullied; Olivia Jade has also lost some of her lucrative sponsors, like Sephora, to her YouTube and Instagram channels.

Gregory Abbott, the New York-based head of a beverage company, International Dispensing Corporation, and his wife, Marcia Abbottt, were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud for allegedly paying $125,000 to Singer for help with their daughter's ACT and SAT exams so she could attend Duke University. Gregory Abbott told the Wall Street Journal, "Literally, we were involved with this guy for our daughter to help out with college counseling and he gets f— arrested. We didn’t know he was doing this s—... A network of New York City mothers use this guy and they all say he’s the best. He ruined chances of kids getting into school who did years and years of work to get into school on their own."

His son told reporters outside their Park Avenue apartment, "They're blowing this whole thing out of proportion. I believe everyone has a right to go to college, man." (He did so while smoking a blunt and promoting his rap album.) Gregory Abbott has since taken a leave of absence from IDC.

Notably, the criminal complaint points out how Marcia Abbott told Singer that her daughter "loves the guy who took her SATs… She said she started having heart palpitations but she said he was so sweet, he let me walk around the hallway. She said, 'Can I take my SAT subjects with him.'" The test taker, who would either correct students' tests or give help with the exams alongside them, is Mark Riddell, who is apparently an excellent test taker.

The WSJ reports, "Tanned and sandy blond, Mr. Riddell charmed the students during these encounters." The 36-year-old Harvard graduate would earn $10,000 per test. Riddell pleaded guilty to small fraud, issuing a statement saying, "I understand how my actions contributed to a loss of trust in the college admissions process." U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling added, "He did not have inside information about the correct answers. He was just smart enough to get a near-perfect score."

Singer apparently had more than 700 clients ("Some parents interviewed by The Times said they used Singer’s firm for typical college placement services and had nothing to do with bribes," per the LA Times) and different schools are starting their own investigations.