Kriti Mehrotra
Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar award winner Whoopi Goldberg narrates ABC’s ‘The Con,’ exploring the troubling tales of unsuspecting individuals who were once taken in by false claims and promises that proved too good to be true. It reveals how the victims were duped both emotionally and financially as their perpetrators made out with hundreds of thousands of dollars for their own gain. And, of course, its episode ‘The Varsity Blues Con’ is no different. Chronicling the story of Rick Singer, it highlights how he, through elaborate and illegal methods, manipulated the admissions process for well-off and famous parents who were hoping to send their children to renowned colleges. Now, you must be wondering where he currently is, right? Well, read on to find out!
Who Is Rick Singer?
William “Rick” Singer is known as the mastermind behind the sweeping college admissions scandal, which came to light in March of 2019 and implicated more than 50 wealthy and high-powered parents. Before getting into this business, though, Rick was a basketball coach at Encina High School in Sacramento, from where he got fired in 1988. Subsequently, in the early 1990s, he was an assistant coach for the Sacramento State’s men’s basketball team. And then, in 1992, he started his first admissions-consulting business, Future Stars College and Career Counseling. According to records, because of his success, Rick established another such organization in 2007, Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key.
Fast forward a few years, and around 2012, Rick Singer moved from Sacramento to the affluent community of Newport Beach, Southern California, to create The Key Worldwide Foundation, a fake charity that was granted tax-exemption by the IRS in 2013. During this time, Rick gained the reputation of being a master salesman with the top result. But no one outside that world knew that he was also a devious man who had created the charity to facilitate the money for “donations” to various colleges, including Yale University, Georgetown, Stanford, and the University of Southern California. These donations were actually nothing but bribes and a way for his clients to commit income tax fraud. Rick’s career in this spanned a total of 25 years.
Where Is Rick Singer Now?
After this scam broke out and Rick Singer was found to be the con-artist behind it all, in March 2019, he pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of justice. Court records show that as a part of Rick’s SAT and ACT test-fixing scheme, parents paid him between $15,000 to $75,000 to have their children’s final scores be changed or for someone else entirely to take the exam in their place. Furthermore, for the student-athlete fraud, Rick was paid an estimated $25 million by parents “to bribe coaches and university administrators to designate their children as purported athletic recruits, thereby facilitating the children’s’ admission to those universities.”
Rick Singer not only pleaded guilty, but he also agreed to cooperate with the investigations of this case, which he has been positively doing. After all, more than 25 implicated parents have also since pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Because of this, as of now, there is no sentencing hearing scheduled for Rick Singer. According to CNN, though, he faces up to 65 years in prison, which is the incarceration at the low end of the Guidelines sentencing range. His government recommended sentence also includes fine and forfeiture along with 3 years of supervised release. The most shocking thing that has come to light, according to the Los Angeles Times, is that Rick did not even know that what he was doing was illegal until his attorney explained it to him. (Featured Image Credit: ABC News / The Con)
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