Rick Singer has unwittingly found his name dominating headlines again thanks to new Netflix documentary Operation Varsity Blues.
Over seven years, wealthy American parents paid him millions to get their kids into Ivy League colleges – including celebrities. Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman and Full House actor Lori Loughlin were among them.
After taking their cash, the 59-year-old would lie on application forms and bribe college admission bosses to ensure these privileged kids got into their first choice of university.
While dozens of parents were later put behind bars for their involvement, Singer, the mastermind behind the operation, shockingly escaped prison.
Here, we take a look at why Rick Singer isn't in jail and where is now.
Who is Rick Singer?
William "Rick" Singer was born in Santa Monica, California in 1960 to parents who had a short marriage. His mother remarried when Rick was eight-years-old, and his father adopted a new family, including a step-brother who later became involved in his business ventures.
After a stab at entrepreneurship, and a number of jobs at call centres, he founded a for-profit college counselling company called the Key in 2011, which he referred to as the "side door" admission to elite colleges.
The services Singer provided had two parts. The first facilitated cheating on ACT and SAT entrance exams, and the second was bribing college athletics directors and coaches with donations and one-off personal payments so that they would recruit their children's clients, without them having any athletic credentials.
Singer's clients paid between $200,000 to $6.5 million to guarantee admission to renowned American institutions including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
How did Rick Singer get caught?
Singer was caught out when financial executive Morrie Tobin – who was being investigated during a financial fraud case – offered FBI investigators a tip regarding a Yale soccer coach who was accepting bribes. This ultimately led them to Singer, who was remanded in September of 2018.
Singer was keen to reduce any sentence, and so worked with investigators to bring down his criminal scheme. Equipped with a wire, he organised visits and calls with clients – past and present – in order to get them to confess to making fraudulent donations. In some cases, however, he was able to warn some that he was wearing a wire and he confessed to this in court.
Thanks to Singer's involvement, the FBI were able to make arrests in March of 2019, which began with actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.
Desperate Housewives star, Huffman, was accused of paying $15,000 to Singer to help her daughter cheat on a college entrance exam. She pleaded guilty on May 13th of 2019, and was sentenced to two weeks in prison, and fined $30,000.
Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were accused of paying $500,000 to have their two daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, recruited to University of Southern California's crew team. While Loughlin initially pleaded not guilty, she changed her plea in May of 2020. She ultimately was sentenced to two months in prison, and a fine of $150,000.
Why isn't Rick Singer in jail?
Many viewers of the Netflix docuseries were baffled to find out that Singer, 60, isn't behind bars even after pleading guilty. According to recent reports, he's very much a free man, residing in Newport Beach on a $500,000 bail. But why?
Well, Singer's testimony is the entire basis of the case, which means that as he helped the FBI implicate his clients, he is now classed as a cooperating informant. So, he can't be incarcerated before everyone involved is tried and charged.
And, of course, because he aided the FBI, he will likely be given a lesser sentence.
Per the Massachusetts District Attorney’s office, "there is no sentencing hearing scheduled [for Singer] at this time". The D.A has recommended "incarceration at the low end of the guidelines sentencing range" due to his cooperation, as well as a fine, which has not been specified.
Per CNN, however, Singer faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $1.25 million.
Where is Rick Singer now?
Since his initial arrest, Singer has largely retreated from the public eye.
However, reports emerged that over the past two years he had been attempting to "change his life for the future". Per AZCentral.com, in November of 2019, he enrolled at Grand Canyon University for a doctorate in psychology. His lawyer even went so far as to say that he hoped to finish by 2021 or 2022.
However, he ultimately dropped out of the university in July of 2020 after completing five courses.
Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal is available to stream on Netflix now.
(Feature image credit: Netflix)
