Palo Alto couple faces new charge in college admissions scandal

Rick Singer, the admitted mastermind of the college admissions scheme, leaves the federal courthouse in Boston. AP photo.

By the Daily Post staff

A Palo Alto couple indicted in the college admission scandal was hit today (March 26) with an additional charge of money laundering.

Dr. Gregory Colburn, 61, and Amy Colburn, 60, are accused of paying $25,000 to admitted admissions fraudster Rick Singer to help their son cheat on the SAT.

The Colburns attorneys told Channel 7 that they believe the additional charge is in retaliation because they demanded a preliminary hearing for their indictments. By seeking such a hearing, it will force federal prosecutors to produce the evidence they have faster than if they waived such a hearing.

“They completely deny the allegations in today’s indictment,” David Schumacher and Patric Hooper said in a statement issued today to the Boston Globe. “The Colburns’ son took his SAT test with no assistance, and the Colburns were unaware that his test was altered in any way. The government has cast its net too widely in this investigation. The Colburns’ life has been turned upside down by these charges, and they will insist on a speedy trial to clear their names.”

The indictment alleges that in December 2017 the Colburns transferred stock worth $24,443.50 and $547 in cash to the Key Worldwide Foundation, a charitable organization that Singer had established to launder bribes from parents.

In exchange for the alleged bribe, Singer arranged for an accomplice, Mark Riddell, to proctor the test taken by the Colburns’ son at a West Hollywood test center last March and correct the answers afterward, according to the indictment.

The indictment claims Riddell corrected the boy’s answers, giving him a score of 1,190 out of a possible 1,600.

The Colburns’ son later submitted the test results to schools including Texas Christian University, Indiana University, the University of Oregon and the University of Arizona, the indictment claims.

5 Comments

  1. Wow, I wonder what they paid $25k for! Hope they got something good for it – like helping underprivileged children. Oh but they’re being retaliated against! Wow. How terrible their lives are being affected!

    O’Connor Hospital – you’re going to keep him on?

  2. The kid was told to take his test in West Hollywood instead one of the many many sites in the Palo Alto area, but this is NORMAL— move along, nothing to see here. If my parents had said- get on the plane I would have refused, character counts.

    Please. These snotty parents stole from every student who worked for their grades and scores AND society which would have benefited from a smarter harder working person getting a better education than the DNA they spit out.

    Mommy, Daddy why didn’t you just buy a $ 10,000 kitchen stove or super duper car — a kid’s future isn’t a consumer durable. Shame on you!

    Did you “cheat” on your “purchase” your amounts add up to $24,990.50– had to save the $9.50? Always an angle, eh?

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