Admissions bribery scandal

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OGSB
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Admissions bribery scandal

Post by OGSB »

FBI accuses wealthy parents, including celebrities, in college-entrance bribery scheme
Authorities said the crimes date back to 2011, and the defendants used “bribery and other forms of fraud to facilitate their children’s admission” to numerous college and universities, including Georgetown, Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California, and the University of California Los Angeles, among others.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Old news is old. This has gone on for centuries everywhere.
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sr
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Texas Men's Tennis Coach involved -

http://www.fox7austin.com/news/local-ne ... fox7austin
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Stanfurd sailing coach pleading guilty today for accepting bribes.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Not gonna lie, I'm kinda sad we aren't caught up in this. What? We aren't good enough for you?!
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krewe of ham and eggs
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

Post by krewe of ham and eggs »

wow Aunty Becky dropped $500k to get her kids into USC...one must've had the transcript of a rock and the other an oven mitt
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Is this investigation linked to the FBI wiretap that exposed Will Wade?
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Roller wrote:Is this investigation linked to the FBI wiretap that exposed Will Wade?
No, this is parents bribing coaches/administrators to flag their child as a potential athlete to gain favorable admission status.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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It's mostly not in the major sports due to lesser visibility of soccer/tennis/gymnastics/etc. Can make up a recruit for those sports. Not so much for football
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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gerryb323 wrote:
Roller wrote:Is this investigation linked to the FBI wiretap that exposed Will Wade?
No, this is parents bribing coaches/administrators to flag their child as a potential athlete to gain favorable admission status.
But why was the FBI wiretapping? That's what's been puzzling me. Could it be that this investigation could have been the basis for wiretapping--perhaps minor sports or admissions--and Wade wandered across the screen?
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

Post by gerryb323 »

Roller wrote:
gerryb323 wrote:
Roller wrote:Is this investigation linked to the FBI wiretap that exposed Will Wade?
No, this is parents bribing coaches/administrators to flag their child as a potential athlete to gain favorable admission status.
But why was the FBI wiretapping? That's what's been puzzling me. Could it be that this investigation could have been the basis for wiretapping--perhaps minor sports or admissions--and Wade wandered across the screen?
The wiretapping is for the shoe companies and their attempts to gain favor with the families and the programs by bribing the players on behalf of or with the encouragement of the schools.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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This is good -- the kid had no idea.

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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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People are dumber than a box of hammers. Make up a persona? Sure. No one will check on the Google, right? :lol:

It’s like a couple of years ago a good friend got taken in by some charlatan claiming to be a former Navy SEAL. Now I was no SEAL but I am acquainted with the profession. Took me about 5 minutes of pointed questions to sniff the guy out.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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I once went to an "authentic New Orleans" restaurant in another state. I was dubious about the food because the menu had too much cuisine fusion. So during the owner meet and greet at our table, after she told me she grew up in New Orleans, I asked her, "Where did you go to high school?" It worked and the fraud was exposed.

The answer was somewhere west of the Rockies. No the food was not very good.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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gerryb323 wrote:Not gonna lie, I'm kinda sad we aren't caught up in this. What? We aren't good enough for you?!
well, we do have a baseball player on the roster who's the son of a huge donor... (I'm kidding.. he can actually play)

which makes me feel incredibly old because I remember him running around homecoming tailgates at the age of 4
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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krewe of ham and eggs wrote:wow Aunty Becky dropped $500k to get her kids into USC...one must've had the transcript of a rock and the other an oven mitt
this guy just said for you to go fornicate yourself

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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Baywave1 wrote:"Where did you go to high school?"
Yes, that would be the killer app for New Orleans. Although a bunch of us out of towner Tulanians have probably absorbed enough to fake it for a couple of rounds of questions. :lol: The biggest giveaway would be the shocked look on an imposter’s face wondering why the heck you would ask!
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Lead story on NBC Nightly News.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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TUPF wrote:People are dumber than a box of hammers. Make up a persona? Sure. No one will check on the Google, right? :lol:

It’s like a couple of years ago a good friend got taken in by some charlatan claiming to be a former Navy SEAL. Now I was no SEAL but I am acquainted with the profession. Took me about 5 minutes of pointed questions to sniff the guy out.
Many years ago, we had a guy working for the Corps of Engineers who was on the "fast track to stardom." In his 8 years with the Corps, he'd managed several promotions and was in good stead to get the next promotion that came up. What people used to call the "fair-haired boy."

When eh was first hired, the Personnel Office (now called "HR" of course) noticed that his application was missing the copies of his diplomas (BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Mayaguez, MS in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, and Professional Engineering Registration with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). He promised he'd get it to them right away. Like often happens, the HR clerk mad a note that said the PE certificat was need and would be furnished soon. The note was filed away in HR and forgotten.

Fast forward a few years, and he borrowed $400 from a co-worker, on the premise that he was broke and his wife had been admitted to a hospital in Miami, so he needed money for airfare. The co-worker waited a decent interval, and began asking where his money was. The guy kept saying that he didn't have it on him, but would get it to him as soon as he could. Eventually, the co-worker went to the Office of Counsel and to HR to ask if they had some way to assist him in retrieving his money; which they accomplished by calling in the deadbeat and threatening action against him. In reviewing the file, an HR person noticed the note and realized that the Professional Engineering certificate had never been provided. He called and asked about it and it was promised to him right away. After several rounds of "Oh yea, I forgot again," the HR clerk decided that the quickest course was to call the "Colegio" (the Puerto Rican authority for Engineer registration) for a copy. The reported that they had never heard of the guy.

Now concerned, the HR guy called the Engineering School at Cornell, who likewise had no record. Finally, at the University of Mayaguez, he found a record--the guy had been expelled in his Sophomore year for cheating. The Corps in its own stupid, inimitable way, did not want to admit that they had been so thoroughly duped, so they offered the guy an opportunity to resign, in lieu of firing him.

I saw his resignation letter, addressed to the District Engineer. It basically said, "I have decided to leave the Corps of Engineers and pursue other opportunities back in my home of Puerto Rico, because I have received an offer I cannot in good conscience turn down." He signed the letter <name redacted>, PE. The PE stands for "Professional Engineer."

Two years later, I got a phone call from one of my EPA contacts in Region II, New York. He said they had a guy applying for a job who listed on his resume that he had worked for the Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville, and he looked like a great candidate. He wanted to know if I had had any working relationship with the guy. Same guy. My advice, was "before you do anything else, check his credentials with the Colegio, Cornell, and U. Mayaguez."

Moral of the story is that people get away with scam personas all the time. Caveat Emptor
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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TUPF wrote:
Baywave1 wrote:"Where did you go to high school?"
Yes, that would be the killer app for New Orleans. Although a bunch of us out of towner Tulanians have probably absorbed enough to fake it for a couple of rounds of questions. :lol: The biggest giveaway would be the shocked look on an imposter’s face wondering why the heck you would ask!


I use a similar question when barbs are thrown at me for my Tulane shirt at Disney world by people who look like walking Nexium ads. After their snide remark I simply ask them "and what year did you graduate from LSU?" and they shut up rather quickly.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

Post by PeteRasche »

People paying their way into college is now a scandal? Isn't that a time-honored tradition?

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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Roller wrote:
TUPF wrote:People are dumber than a box of hammers. Make up a persona? Sure. No one will check on the Google, right? :lol:

It’s like a couple of years ago a good friend got taken in by some charlatan claiming to be a former Navy SEAL. Now I was no SEAL but I am acquainted with the profession. Took me about 5 minutes of pointed questions to sniff the guy out.
Many years ago, we had a guy working for the Corps of Engineers who was on the "fast track to stardom." In his 8 years with the Corps, he'd managed several promotions and was in good stead to get the next promotion that came up. What people used to call the "fair-haired boy."

When eh was first hired, the Personnel Office (now called "HR" of course) noticed that his application was missing the copies of his diplomas (BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Mayaguez, MS in Civil Engineering from Cornell University, and Professional Engineering Registration with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico). He promised he'd get it to them right away. Like often happens, the HR clerk mad a note that said the PE certificat was need and would be furnished soon. The note was filed away in HR and forgotten.

Fast forward a few years, and he borrowed $400 from a co-worker, on the premise that he was broke and his wife had been admitted to a hospital in Miami, so he needed money for airfare. The co-worker waited a decent interval, and began asking where his money was. The guy kept saying that he didn't have it on him, but would get it to him as soon as he could. Eventually, the co-worker went to the Office of Counsel and to HR to ask if they had some way to assist him in retrieving his money; which they accomplished by calling in the deadbeat and threatening action against him. In reviewing the file, an HR person noticed the note and realized that the Professional Engineering certificate had never been provided. He called and asked about it and it was promised to him right away. After several rounds of "Oh yea, I forgot again," the HR clerk decided that the quickest course was to call the "Colegio" (the Puerto Rican authority for Engineer registration) for a copy. The reported that they had never heard of the guy.

Now concerned, the HR guy called the Engineering School at Cornell, who likewise had no record. Finally, at the University of Mayaguez, he found a record--the guy had been expelled in his Sophomore year for cheating. The Corps in its own stupid, inimitable way, did not want to admit that they had been so thoroughly duped, so they offered the guy an opportunity to resign, in lieu of firing him.

I saw his resignation letter, addressed to the District Engineer. It basically said, "I have decided to leave the Corps of Engineers and pursue other opportunities back in my home of Puerto Rico, because I have received an offer I cannot in good conscience turn down." He signed the letter <name redacted>, PE. The PE stands for "Professional Engineer."

Two years later, I got a phone call from one of my EPA contacts in Region II, New York. He said they had a guy applying for a job who listed on his resume that he had worked for the Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville, and he looked like a great candidate. He wanted to know if I had had any working relationship with the guy. Same guy. My advice, was "before you do anything else, check his credentials with the Colegio, Cornell, and U. Mayaguez."

Moral of the story is that people get away with scam personas all the time. Caveat Emptor
This happens in academia, too. There's several stories of folks having never finished their dissertations, or other such chicanery, sometimes accidentally discovered decades down the road.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

Post by Yankeewave »

didn't the most senior admiral in the navy kill himself about 20 years over a "V" device on his combat ribbons that wasn't supposed to be there? never quite figured out if it was an accident or on purpose.
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Re: Admissions bribery scandal

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Yankeewave wrote:didn't the most senior admiral in the navy kill himself about 20 years over a "V" device on his combat ribbons that wasn't supposed to be there? never quite figured out if it was an accident or on purpose.
Suicide.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Michael_Boorda
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