Another coach to plead guilty in college admissions scandal
The former head coach of the University of Southern California women’s soccer team has agreed to plead guilty for his role in the nationwide college admissions scandal that has ensnared high-profile parents including Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, the feds announced Monday.
Ali Khosroshahin, 49, will cooperate with the government and plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering for accepting over $200,000 in bribes to get the kids of wealthy parents into USC as fake soccer recruits, prosecutors said.
Khosroshahin’s former assistant coach, Laura Janke, already copped to a count of conspiracy to commit racketeering in May.
The pair worked with college admissions scandal mastermind William “Rick” Singer to create sham athletic profiles for his rich clients’ kids, according to court documents.
In one case, Khosroshahin and Janke allegedly received $50,000 for their private soccer club from California dad Toby MacFarlane after they helped to get his daughter into the school, court documents say.
Singer brokered the deal, which falsely claimed MacFarlane’s daughter was a “US Club Soccer All American” in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, court documents allege.
When a USC athletics academic counselor emailed her about her schedule — asking her to change her Friday classes because she would be busy with “travel or games” — Singer allegedly told the dad that he should tell the coaches his daughter has an injury and “will not be practicing or playing for a while.”
MacFarlane is scheduled to plead guilty to mail fraud conspiracy charges later this month.
Under the terms of Khosroshahin’s agreed-upon plea deal, prosecutors will recommend a sentence at the low end of guidelines that call for 46 to 57 months behind bars, plus one year of supervised release and restitution. He will plead guilty by June 30.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli — who are accused of paying Singer $500,000 to get their two daughters into USC as bogus crew recruits — appeared in court on behalf of their clients at a Boston court Monday morning, alongside attorneys for other parents charged in the case.
The famous couple, who have pleaded not guilty, did not appear in person, according to the Washington Post.
But some of the defendants’ lawyers offered a glimpse into a possible defense — arguing that their clients thought they were simply donating to the colleges, not knowingly funding a bribery scheme, the paper said.
“It simply doesn’t matter whether the money went to a coach’s program or the coach directly,” Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen told the court. “A bribe is simply a quid pro quo.”
Huffman and more than a dozen other parents have pleaded guilty to mail fraud conspiracy charges in the scandal.
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