US college admissions scandal triggers $500 billion lawsuit

A massive college bribery scandal in the US has triggered several lawsuits that accuse wealthy, well-connected parents of buying spots for their children at prestigious universities, and keeping children of less wealthy parents out.

The $500 billion lawsuit was filed Thursday by a parent in San Francisco, California, accusing 45 defendants of defrauding and inflicting emotional distress on everyone whose "rights to a fair chance at entrance to college" were stolen through their alleged conspiracy.

Jennifer Kay Toy, a former teacher who filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court, said she believed her son Joshua was not admitted to some colleges, despite his 4.2 grade point average, because wealthy parents thought it was "ok to lie, cheat, steal and bribe their children's way into a good college."

Another lawsuit was filed Wednesday by Stanford students Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods, who said they were denied a fair opportunity to win admission to Yale and the University of Southern California because of alleged racketeering, and said their degrees from Stanford will be devalued.

PressTV-50 arrested in sweeping US college admissions scam

Several dozen people, including businesspersons and celebrities, have been arrested and charged in the biggest US college admissions scam.

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said a company in California made about $25 million by charging parents to secure spots for their children in elite universities, the largest known college admissions scandal in US history.

Fifty people, including 33 parents and many athletic coaches, were criminally charged in the scandal, which is being overseen by prosecutors in Boston.

Among the 50 were Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, and TPG private equity partner William McGlashan Jr.

Huffman and Loughlin were among around 20 defendants who appeared Tuesday in a federal court in Los Angeles, California. All the defendants who appeared in that court were released on bond.

William Singer, the accused mastermind of the scheme, is also among the defendants.

Prosecutors said Singer used his company to help prospective students cheat on college admission tests and bribe coaches to inflate their athletic credentials.

Prosecutors said the scheme began in 2011 and helped children get into top schools, including Georgetown University, Stanford University and Yale University.

Part of the scheme involved paying tens of thousands of dollars to exam administrators at two test centers to allow Singer’s clients to cheat, often by arranging to have wrong answers corrected or having another person take the exam.

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