Former USC official sentenced in college admissions scandal

By Laura Ly, CNN

A former athletics official at the University of Southern California was sentenced Friday to six months in prison after pleading guilty in an admissions scandal for allegedly helping students cheat their way into acceptances at the prestigious college.

Donna Heinel, who was USC’s senior associate athletic director, had pleaded guilty in November of 2021 to one count of honest services wire fraud as part of a plea agreement, prosecutors said in a news release Friday.

Heinel was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and will forfeit $160,000, Caroline Ferguson, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts, said. Prosecutors had previously recommended a sentence of two years in prison.

Heinel was part of the sprawling college admissions scam aptly known as Operation Varsity Blues. She was fired in March 2019 over her alleged role in the scheme.

At least 50 people — including Hollywood stars, top CEOs, college coaches and standardized test administrators — were accused of taking part in the scheme to cheat on tests and admit students to leading institutions as athletes, regardless of their abilities.

William “Rick” Singer, the plot’s accused mastermind, was sentenced Wednesday to 3.5 years in federal prison, the longest sentence in a case that has rattled America’s higher education system.

Singer oversaw the scam in which wealthy parents, desperate to get their children into elite universities, paid huge sums to cheat on standardized tests, bribe university coaches and administrators who had influence over admissions, and then lie about it to authorities.

Singer pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the US and obstruction of justice in March 2019. He cooperated with the government’s investigation in the months prior to the public announcement of the case and in the years since.

In federal court in Boston on Wednesday, Singer apologized for his actions and said his morals took a backseat to “winning and keeping score.”

In Heinel’s case, the evidence included an audio recording in which Singer can be heard saying, “Donna Heinel at USC to help Audrey get in through crew.” Another recording points to Singer highlighting Heinel’s ability to help another student get into USC.

Heinel’s name was also mentioned several times in audio that was used as evidence in the trials of two separate parents, John Wilson and Gamal Abdelaziz, who paid Singer hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their children into prestigious universities including USC, Stanford and Harvard, court records show.

A federal jury last month found Abdelaziz and Wilson guilty of all accusations, which included various fraud and bribery charges.

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CNN’s Eric Levenson, Liam Reilly and Lauren Del Valle contributed to this report.