1 00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: day we bring you insight an analysis into the most 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more 4 00:00:12,240 --> 00:00:16,160 Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,479 Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. Prosecutors are ratcheting 6 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: up the charges and the pressure on actress Laurie Laughlin 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,480 Speaker 1: and the other parents who are fighting the charges against 8 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,840 Speaker 1: them in the college admission scandal. One day after four 9 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: parents reversed course and change their please to guilty, prosecutors 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: filed new bribery charges against Laughlin and ten other parents 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: who are going to trial, adding to the earlier fraud 12 00:00:41,680 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: and money laundering counts. Joining me as former federal prosecutor 13 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: Robert Mints a partner McCarter and English Bob might some 14 00:00:49,159 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: read this as almost a punishment for the parents who 15 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: are refusing to plead guilty and forcing prosecutors to take 16 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: them to trial, which, of course is they're right. Certainly. 17 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: Criminal defense lawyers have criticized the government for attempting to 18 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,039 Speaker 1: StrongARM the defendants depleting guilty here rather than exercise their 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:10,560 Speaker 1: constitutional right to take the case to trial, but it's 20 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: not unusual for prosecutors to add additional charges as a 21 00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: case leads up to trial, even though the underlying facts 22 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:21,240 Speaker 1: have not changed. This is the second time that prosecutors 23 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: have added charges for the same offense, and the prosecutors 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 1: reportedly warned the parents and gave them deadlines of Monday 25 00:01:29,360 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: to change their police to guilty or risk facing a 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 1: new charge, and that did lead to a sort of 27 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: mini wave of four parents, including Douglas Hodge, who is 28 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:43,039 Speaker 1: a former chief executive of PIMCO, pleading guilty on Monday. Now. 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: Is that just prosecutors playing hardball or is that over 30 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:52,280 Speaker 1: zealous prosecution? It's really standard playbook for prosecutors to ratchet 31 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: up their pressure on defendants who have not yet pled 32 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: guilty in order to try to convince them that their 33 00:01:57,960 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: chances of spending less time in jail will increase if 34 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:04,080 Speaker 1: they take the guilty plea now rather than pressing the 35 00:02:04,120 --> 00:02:07,400 Speaker 1: government and taking the case to trial. So explain the 36 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:11,799 Speaker 1: new charge, conspiracy to commit Federal programs bribery and how 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,760 Speaker 1: it raises the stakes for the parents at trial and 38 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,519 Speaker 1: at sentencing if convicted. Federal program bribery, which is known 39 00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:23,359 Speaker 1: as six six six for prosecutors, that's the statutory basis 40 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: is a crime that's charged against anybody who's accused of 41 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: bribing an employee or an agent of an organization that 42 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: received at least ten thousand dollars or more in funding 43 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 1: from the federal government and who in exchange for that bribe, 44 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,360 Speaker 1: obtained something valued at five thousand dollars of more. So, 45 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: in this case, prosecutors have argued that these parents conspired 46 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,079 Speaker 1: with Mr Singer to bribe coaches into giving up admission 47 00:02:48,160 --> 00:02:51,840 Speaker 1: slots into these colleges, which they stay are properties of 48 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 1: the university and certainly worth more than five thousand dollars 49 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: to the parents. All of the universities are subject to 50 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: this federal a bribery statute because every university, whether it's 51 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:05,760 Speaker 1: public or private, receives at least ten thousand dollars from 52 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: the federal government, whether it's correct do neid or whether 53 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:10,880 Speaker 1: it's aid for grants and that sort of thing. So 54 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:13,280 Speaker 1: that's the basis of prosecutors have used to add this 55 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:18,080 Speaker 1: additional charge. The U S Attorney Andrew Lelling said the 56 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 1: latest charges stemmed from an ongoing investigation. Are these charges 57 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 1: knew because more came out in the investigation, or are 58 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: they new because they just decided to level these charges. Now, 59 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: that's a great question, and we really don't know the 60 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: answer to that because we're not privy to the information 61 00:03:36,600 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: that the government has. It's clear that some additional defendants 62 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: have decided to plead guilty and are cooperating with the government, 63 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: so it's possible they do have more information. It's also 64 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: possible that while the government thought that this crime may 65 00:03:50,480 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: have been something they wanted to charge, they didn't have 66 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: enough evidence to believe they could prove it beyond a 67 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: reasonable doubt, So that's also possible. But it is also 68 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: not unusual simply add more charges as the case heads 69 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: up to trial, because jurors may look at the same 70 00:04:04,840 --> 00:04:08,160 Speaker 1: facts and find that defendants committed one crime but may 71 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: not commit another crime because the elements of each of 72 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: these charges are going to be slightly different. At the 73 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: end of the day, prosecutors and want to make sure 74 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: that at least some of these charges will stick. The 75 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,920 Speaker 1: parents have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from two 76 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: weeks for actress Felicity Huffman, who paid fifteen thousand dollars 77 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,039 Speaker 1: to fix her daughter's s a T scores to five 78 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:31,760 Speaker 1: months for a California winemaker who paid three hundred thousand 79 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: dollars to fix his daughter's S A T scores. Is 80 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: the sentence being tied to the amount of money paid. 81 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:41,919 Speaker 1: It seems so far, based upon the sentences that have 82 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,680 Speaker 1: been handed down in this case, that the judges looking 83 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 1: at the amount of the bribes that were given by 84 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: the parents and also looking at how involved the parents 85 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: were in the two different types of schemes that were 86 00:04:52,839 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: being used here. One scheme was to inflate the standardized 87 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: testing grades of the students, whether that's an S A 88 00:04:59,240 --> 00:05:01,479 Speaker 1: T or an AC E T. The other was to 89 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: have the students posed as recruited athletes in sports that 90 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,239 Speaker 1: they really had no involvement in. There are some parents 91 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: who were involved in both schemes, and those are the 92 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: parents who so far have received the harshest sentences. A 93 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:19,280 Speaker 1: number of parents are arguing that their payments were donations, 94 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: no different from other parents who make a donation to 95 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 1: a university in the hopes of getting an advantage for 96 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:30,200 Speaker 1: his or her child in the admissions process. Is that 97 00:05:30,440 --> 00:05:34,320 Speaker 1: something that juries are likely to buy? It really depends 98 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:36,560 Speaker 1: on the facts of each case and what the government 99 00:05:36,839 --> 00:05:39,880 Speaker 1: can prove in terms of the knowledge of the criminal 100 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,720 Speaker 1: wrongdoing of this scheme that can be attributed to each 101 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:46,200 Speaker 1: of these parents. Certainly, making contributions to the universities are 102 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 1: not unusual, and certainly there are people who believe that 103 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: those contributions may in some way affect the possibilities of 104 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: their child may get admitted to the school. But here 105 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,159 Speaker 1: prosecutors are alleging far more than that. Their alleging that 106 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,919 Speaker 1: these payments were directly link to payoffs that went to 107 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:07,000 Speaker 1: these college coaches who then added their children as recruits 108 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:10,279 Speaker 1: for sports in which they actually had no involvement in. 109 00:06:10,440 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: So prosecutors should be able to shoot that defense down 110 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: fairly quickly as long as they have the evidence to 111 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 1: tie those contributions to this illegal scheme. Our prosecutors going 112 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,960 Speaker 1: to be tougher about making a deal as they approach 113 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,680 Speaker 1: trial and as they start preparing for trial. The short nasers, Yes, 114 00:06:28,720 --> 00:06:32,960 Speaker 1: the prosecutors are allowed to factor into their decisions about 115 00:06:32,960 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: what kind of plea deal they're going to offer, how 116 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,159 Speaker 1: much work they have had to put into that case 117 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: preparing it for trial. Because it is not possible for 118 00:06:40,160 --> 00:06:43,279 Speaker 1: prosecutors to try every single case that they ever indict, 119 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: So they do give a benefit to defendants who decided 120 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: to plead guilty early on. Accept responsibility and it allows 121 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,520 Speaker 1: the government to avoid all of the time and expense 122 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: in preparing for the trial. So if you wait till 123 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,039 Speaker 1: the very last second and try to take a plea 124 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:00,120 Speaker 1: on the eve of trial, generally prosecutors will not if 125 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: you the same deal as they would have given you 126 00:07:01,880 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: months before had he decided to plead guilty early on 127 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: in the case. Thanks Bob, that's Robert Men's, a partner 128 00:07:07,839 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 1: at McCarter and English. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg 129 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: Law Podcast. You can subscribe and listen to the show 130 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. 131 00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: I'm June Grosso. This is Bloomberg Ye.