College Entrance Scam includes former Yale Women's Soccer Coach

Well, they don’t call USC “University of Spoiled Children” for nothing...

I think the reason this story is so fascinating is because it covers so many topics and has so many implications:

1) The lengths some parents will go through to prevent their kids from experiencing failure - how are these kids going to deal with failure as adults? (Maybe they won’t have to because they have that financial safety net?)

2) This is going to draw significant attention to college athletics and admissions criteria - such as why are athletes prioritized to begin with? should coaches even have the authority to offer admission to recruits? Recruiting is going to get more difficult and stringent.

3) Will involved programs be penalized for a few years and lose NCAA eligibility?

4) Philosophically, does it really matter that people can buy their way in if they didn’t actually take up a roster spot? If the argument is that these kids didn’t earn it or weren’t as competitive as others, isn’t that the same as affirmative action? We’re talking about 50kids in the US out of 2.2 million incoming freshman each year - that’s .002%. I mean given the choice, would you rather pay $500k to get your kid into USC or just teach your kid to work hard and get their grades up so they earn it?

5) Assuming these kids graduated and are doing well, it says a lot about how you do on theses tests really don’t mean anything in terms of your potential.
This is not the same at all as affirmative action.
 
I think the reason this story is so fascinating is because it covers so many topics and has so many implications

True. In the old days for colleges, people used to flunk out all the time, including a segment of kids that went to Ivies. But now with grade inflation, getting in is pretty much the entire ticket. To fail, something really big has to happen like a breakdown, addiction, abuse accusation, learning disability or cheating. Getting in is pretty much getting past the velvet rope.

College is now viewed as a marker. It's a way the fellow members of the "in" crowd judge you, for positions of power, for jobs, and for marriage. Employers were prohibited from doing aptitude tests (for a variety of reasons, including discrimination), so college became the stand in for the seal of approval In the old days too, college educated dad might marry his secretary or the stewardess he met on the plane. Now days high powered dad marries high powered mom, and college educated mom would never marry someone who is a drag on her income. Successful people marry each other, pool their resources, and tend to have kids that will also be successful (whether by genetics or environmental advantages).

Meanwhile, the superrich have been pouring money into universities (which now have high tech dorms, wifi, tons of administrators, and facilities galore). To compete, the very rich (but not superrich) throw their money, influence and connections too (sometimes, like those in the story, not entirely on the up and up). The upper middle class looks at it, and feels their children are now at a disadvantage, with all this money being thrown at the kids, and are worried about the shrinking opportunities in the economy caused by globalization, and realize that now a lot of college slots are going to for example kids from overseas (that's another iceberg that's coming...it's been a percolating secret that some foreign admissions from some countries might be doing similar cheating)....they get upset. The working class looks at this, and it's just another reason for them to get ticked off at the arrogant coastal elites, that's not only throwing 2 incomes they can't compete with at the problem, but that seems to look down on them too, and they don't get some of the safety valves afforded to the poor such as affirmative action.

People having fewer children means that you also have your eggs in fewer basket. Back when people had 3-6 kids, the odds are one would be successful (by hard work, athleticism, charisma, intellect or just plain old luck). Every family had a black sheep, and even if you wanted to you couldn't stay on top of all your children. Remember the film "Parenthood"? Plus we became more scared about our children, even though the world hadn't really become more dangerous, so we got helicopter parenting to protect these fewer eggs.

The story resonates because it goes directly to who were are as a society, and really plays into why the events of the last 12 or so years have unfolded the way they have. It touches everything as mundane as youth soccer, to why presidential politics operates the way it does, to our own children's futures. Dersh in the interview I posted above called it a watershed event....I think it really is and we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg right now.
 
Olivia is generating some ROI though...


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Anyone watch the FBI press conference or read this? Claim is former Yale Women's Head Coach was one of the participants, and took a $400k bribe to get a non-soccer player in as a soccer recruit. Unreal. Recruiting tip #1 -- no bribes or cheating.

So I'm on the phone w/my player this morning who stayed back in New Haven over the break. As she's leaving morning training, we're talking and she suddenly gets ambushed by a reporter, pelting her with questions..."are you with the Yale women's soccer team"...."how do you feel"....."did you see anything"....etc etc. I watched the interview tonight..... Frustrated/disappointed. Her body language said it all.

No matter your take, the situation ain't easy. Especially for those that truly had to grind to get there....Grind to stay there ....and grind to get to where they want to go in life. Without daddy-warbucks paving the way.

The irony in all this is, amidst the mess....my kiddo took a class last semester that made a impression on her. One that may have changed the direction of post playing/college career...Class name, "Criminal Minds". Career interest...FBI.

What a coinkydinko_O
 
With all of the talk about paying athletes beyond a scholarship, I think this will have (eventually) widespread implications on college athletics.
Why should someone who can run, jump, throw, kick, row, swing a racket, etc be allowed entry with lower grades than the majority of students?
 
That is a pretty serious allegation. Perhaps MAP can chime in on it.
Mail fraud-

Up to 20 years incarceration and up to a 250k fine. Very serious crime.

I can’t imagine any of these parents spending a day in jail. Their money will allow them to assemble a dream team of lawyers.

The sad news is the poor coaches could see some time as they won’t have the funds to assemble a team of tremendous litigators.
 
With all of the talk about paying athletes beyond a scholarship, I think this will have (eventually) widespread implications on college athletics.
Why should someone who can run, jump, throw, kick, row, swing a racket, etc be allowed entry with lower grades than the majority of students?

@Tbuck the answer to your question is simple. They generate a of money, prestige and interest for the school. I was once told that Stanford football pays for the entire athletic department of Stanford. It's a serious business.
 
Paragraph 61, page 10, of the indictment states that USC women's soccer coach Ali Khosrashin and his assistant Laura Janke controlled a "private soccer club", and used control of that club as a vehicle to fabricate a false soccer resume for one prospective student-athlete. Which club was that?
 
Paragraph 61, page 10, of the indictment states that USC women's soccer coach Ali Khosrashin and his assistant Laura Janke controlled a "private soccer club", and used control of that club as a vehicle to fabricate a false soccer resume for one prospective student-athlete. Which club was that?

He owns Newport Futbol Club in Newport Beach...before that he was B07 coach for Total Futbol Academy in east LA for 6 months...he also ran Advantage Sports Academy (no pun intended) and Road to College Soccer up until December 2018.
 
He owns Newport Futbol Club in Newport Beach...before that he was B07 coach for Total Futbol Academy in east LA for 6 months...he also ran Advantage Sports Academy (no pun intended) and Road to College Soccer up until December 2018.

He just a hired coach for Newport FC. Someone else is an owner.
 
It will be interesting to see what sanctions the NCAA throws at these sports programs. I would expect a couple years of no playoffs and scholarship restrictions. IMHO this is just the tip of the iceberg and today there are probably a good number of college coaches praying the NCAA does not start taking a closer look at their programs and recruiting process.
 
It will be interesting to see what sanctions the NCAA throws at these sports programs. I would expect a couple years of no playoffs and scholarship restrictions. IMHO this is just the tip of the iceberg and today there are probably a good number of college coaches praying the NCAA does not start taking a closer look at their programs and recruiting process.

I was wondering if there is even any NCAA violation here at all. The usual situation that the NCAA gets involved in concerns money flowing from a college or supporter of the college to an athlete or his family. The money is to be going the other way here.
 
I was wondering if there is even any NCAA violation here at all. The usual situation that the NCAA gets involved in concerns money flowing from a college or supporter of the college to an athlete or his family. The money is to be going the other way here.

You have been around long enough to know that anything that shines negative light on NCAA sports will end in some type of sanctions. This is high visibility so the NCAA will need to make an example out of these schools to uphold the integrity of NCAA athletic programs.
 
Some of individuals named in the articles have club soccer involvement and could bring the "foundations" workaround in more focus by law enforcement organizations especially dealing with taxes.

We personally know some players on the other end of the spectrum that were being recruited or made verbal or other commitments to some of these schools but that maybe in Jeopardy due to head coach or programs possibly being suspended or sanctioned.

"United States District Court of Massachusetts announced charges against former Yale women’s soccer head coach Rudy Meredith on Tuesday in one of the most prominent and comprehensive cases as part of the FBI investigation in college admission and bribery scheme. The charges allege that Meredith accepted financial gifts in exchange for helping with the admission of potential students as he designated them as recruits for his team, even though the applicants did not play competitive soccer.

Meredith resigned from his position as head coach of the Yale women’s soccer team in November of 2018. The charges allege that Meredith accept brides in November of 2017 and April of 2018.

The charge alleges that Meredith and William Rick Singer engaged in the practice of designating applicants to Yale as recruits to the women’s soccer team in exchange for personal financial gain beginning in 2015.

The first case that the charges lay out alleges that Singer was approached by a father in November of 2017 who was looking to get his daughter into a top college in exchange for a “donation.”

Singer sent the resume to Meredith with the note that he would change the applicants’ personal statement, which contained references to her art portfolio, to soccer.

Meredith designated the applicant as a recruit for the women’s soccer team, even though he was aware she did not play soccer at that level. Singer paid Meredith $400,000 after the applicant was admitted into Yale. Theapplicant’s family contributed to $1.2 million to Meredith during and after the admissions process.

The second case against Meredith alleges that Meredith met directly with the father of an applicant in April of 2018 in Boston. Meredith stated in the conversation, which the FBI recorded, that he would designate the applicant as a recruit for the Yale women’s soccer team in exchange for $450,000.

The charges against Meredith are conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud; and honest services wire fraud.

He is not the only college soccer coach listed in the investigation. Former USC women’s head coach Ali Khosroshahin, former USC assistant coach Laura Janke, and current UCLA men’s soccer head coach Jorge Salcedo are also listed as defendants.

The case against Khosroshahin, Janke, and Salcedo alleges that Bruce Isackson and Davina Isackson paid an intermediary, who is referred to as a cooperating witness in the charges, to secure their daughter’s admission to USC - her first choice school - as arecruited athlete.

The case states that the cooperating witness emailed the falsified information to Janke in September of 2015.

The USC assistant athletic director emailed the women’s soccer coach in February of 2016 stating the application had been sent to the regular admissions process due to a “clerical error.”

Khosroshahin, who was fired by USC in 2013, sent the falsified application to Salcedo in May of 2016. UCLA’s student-athlete admissions approved the daughter as a provisional applicant for the fall of 2018.

The case alleges that the cooperating witness directed a payment from a company called Key WorldwideFoundation (KWF) to a sports marketing company controlled by Salcedo in the amount of $100,000 on July 7, 2016. The cooperating witness also states that KWF issued a check to Khosroshahin in the amount of $25,000.

There was a player on the UCLA women’s soccer roster briefly in 2017 with the name Lauren Isackson, who listed her parents as Bruce and Davina on her player profile. She is no longer on the UCLA roster

Longtime UCLA men's soccer coach Jorge Salcedo has been placed on leave in the wake of his indictment in the college admissions scandal that's breaking today.

Janke, Khosroshahin, and Salcedo are all charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering.

Khosroshahin and Janke are also involved in another case in the investigation, which took place in 2012, which helped facilitate the admission of a student to USC as a recruit for the soccer team. There were two donations made to Khosroshahin and Janke’s private soccer club for $100,000 after the admission of the student to USC. She never played for the USC soccer team.

The case also alleges that Janke falsified the athletic records for another student to help him earn enrollment to USC on the football team"

https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/college-soccer-articles/college-sports-scandal-hits-soccer_aid45953
 
It will be interesting to see what sanctions the NCAA throws at these sports programs. I would expect a couple years of no playoffs and scholarship restrictions. IMHO this is just the tip of the iceberg and today there are probably a good number of college coaches praying the NCAA does not start taking a closer look at their programs and recruiting process.

I am not sure how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with.
 
I am not sure how these are NCAA violations as these kids were never athletes to begin with.
Depends what the coaches did with the money. SC water polo coach seems to have started a fund for the program with it - definitely an NCAA issue then. But a coach just taking a bribe to help a non-athlete alone probably isn't a violation at all.
 
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