By the Daily Post staff
Stanford has quietly expelled a female student who falsely claimed to be a competitive sailor, the latest fallout in the nationwide college admissions scandal.
College admissions fraudster Rick Singer gave the $500,000 to the Stanford sailing program after the teen was admitted, according to federal prosecutors.
John Vandemoer, Stanford’s former head sailing coach who pleaded guilty March 12 for his role in the admissions scheme, wrote a fraudulent athletic profile for the teen when she was applying in early 2017, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. Rosen said in federal court.
Vandemoer didn’t end up recruiting her for the team, but she was accepted through the normal admissions process partly because of her fake sailing credentials.
“We determined that some of the material in the student’s application is false and, in accordance with our policies, have rescinded admission,” Stanford said in a statement. “Any credits earned have also been vacated. The student is no longer on Stanford’s campus.”
Stanford on Tuesday posted the statement about the expulsion of the student in a press release that had been issued March 14 on the university’s website.
The statement about the expulsion went unnoticed for several days until it was discovered by the student-run Stanford Daily, which broke the story tonight (April 7).
The university has not identified the student publicly, and her parents were not among those indicted March 12 by a federal grand jury.
A federal grand jury indicted a total of 50 people, including parents, coaches and proctors who helped students to cheat on SAT and ACT exams,
Vandemoer, the former sailing coach, was charged with racketeering involving the applications of two other students, neither of whom completed the Stanford application process and got into other schools.
Rosen, the federal prosecutor, said that conversations on wiretapped phone calls indicated that Vandemoer was charging $500,000 per student. The money went into the sailing program’s account.
So did they refund the $500k bribe too?
“Regarding the financial contributions that were made to the sailing team, we are working to determine the most appropriate way to redirect the funds to an entity unaffiliated with Stanford, consistent with the regulations concerning such gifts.”