February 28, 2020
The two Iranian-Americans swept up in the US scandal of bribing university staff to get children into prestigious US colleges have not yet gone to trial.
Ali Khosroshahin, 49, who was a soccer coach at the
University of Southern California, has pled guilty to accepting bribes. There is no word yet on when those remaining who have pled guilty but remain untried will face a judge.
Homayoun Zadeh, 57, who taught dentistry at the University of Southern California—and was not involved with Khosroshahin at all—has entered a not guilty plea to charges that he provided bribe money in an effort to get his daughter into the school.
Zadeh is one of 15 parents fighting the charges against them. Actress Lori Laughlin is the most prominent member of the group. A federal magistrate says those 15 are likely to be divided into groups of three and face trial later this year.
Altogether, 53 people have been charged—parents, coaches and the group that arranged the scam around the scheme’s mastermind, Rick Singer, who has pleaded guilty.
Thirty have pleaded guilty or announced they will plea guilty while 23 are preparing for trial.
Of those tried and sentenced to date, the longest prison sentence has been nine months to Douglas Hodge, former head of the investment management firm, PIMCO. He paid the most money, $850,000, to try to get the largest group of children, four, into elite private universities. One person received no jail time; he was a coach who took bribes but applied all that money to his school’s athletic program.
The others have been sentenced to anywhere from one day to six months.