WEBVTT - Parents On Edge As College Cheating Probe Deepens

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

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<v Speaker 1>day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

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<v Speaker 1>important legal news of the day. You can find more

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<v Speaker 1>episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,

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<v Speaker 1>and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. The biggest college

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<v Speaker 1>admission scandal in our country's history is about to become

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<v Speaker 1>even bigger as prosecutors investigate more parents, making some parents

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<v Speaker 1>who haven't been charged or even notified so worried that

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<v Speaker 1>they're hiring attorneys already joining me as Robert Mints, a

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<v Speaker 1>former federal prosecutor and a partner at McCarter. In English, Bob,

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<v Speaker 1>The first parents to actually plead guilty are Bruce and

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<v Speaker 1>Davina Isaacson, who admitted they paid at least six hundred

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<v Speaker 1>thousand dollars to get their daughters into USC and u

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<v Speaker 1>c l A. The government will seek leniency if they

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<v Speaker 1>provide substantial assistance. How much more can the government learn

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<v Speaker 1>from them when they already have the cooperation of the

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<v Speaker 1>ringleader William Singer. I think they can learn quite a bit, June,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think the government is clearly in cooperation mode

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<v Speaker 1>in that they are looking for additional people to assist

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<v Speaker 1>them in this case. And what I say that, I

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<v Speaker 1>mean not only parents, but also coaches who may have

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<v Speaker 1>been involved in this fraud, because at the end of

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<v Speaker 1>the day, they need to rely more on other individuals.

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<v Speaker 1>They cannot let this case rest simply with William Singer,

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<v Speaker 1>who will be attacked by defense lawyers and his credibility

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<v Speaker 1>is in any way dentity that hurts the government's case.

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<v Speaker 1>The fact that they're adding co operators suggest to me

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<v Speaker 1>that this case is only just beginning, and they're going

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<v Speaker 1>to see a significant number of additional indictments and charges

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<v Speaker 1>coming in the near future. So, as matters now stand,

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<v Speaker 1>Bruce Isaacson faces about three years in jail. Davina Isaacson

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<v Speaker 1>faces about two years, a substantial amount of time. Explain

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<v Speaker 1>how the guidelines are working here and how much a

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<v Speaker 1>judge can diverge from those. Yes, well, these are very

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<v Speaker 1>serious charges. These are people who have never had a

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<v Speaker 1>brush with the law before, who are suddenly facing very

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<v Speaker 1>real jail time. As you mentioned, for the husband, about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty seven months and slightly less for his wife. In

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<v Speaker 1>the federal system, there is no succe thing as parole,

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<v Speaker 1>so if they were to be sentenced to those terms

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<v Speaker 1>without cooperation, they would do of that time. Here, though,

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<v Speaker 1>with the cooperation, prosecutors can come in and tell the

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<v Speaker 1>judge its sentencing how much their assistance was of value

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<v Speaker 1>to the government. At the end of the day, the

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<v Speaker 1>judge has the complete discretion whether to sentence them to

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<v Speaker 1>jail time at all, or if he does sentence him

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<v Speaker 1>to jail, how much time that will be. According to

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<v Speaker 1>The New York Times, there are parents who have not

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<v Speaker 1>been contacted by prosecutors but are worried and have already

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<v Speaker 1>hired lawyers. If you were representing one of them, how

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<v Speaker 1>would you advise a client in a situation like that,

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<v Speaker 1>Contact prosecutors and see what you can do, or lay

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<v Speaker 1>low and wait. That is a really interesting question. You

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<v Speaker 1>can be certain that there are parents in California in

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<v Speaker 1>other places of the country who are spending many sleepless

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<v Speaker 1>nights pondering that very question, trying to figure out what

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<v Speaker 1>they should do. They know that they had contact with Singer.

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<v Speaker 1>What they don't know is whether or not any of

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<v Speaker 1>their conversations with him may have been recorded, may have

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<v Speaker 1>been picked up on these wire taps, and if that's

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<v Speaker 1>the case, what do they do. Do they lay low

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<v Speaker 1>and hope that maybe the government will simply pass over

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<v Speaker 1>them and charge other people, or do they step forward

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<v Speaker 1>and try to cut a deal. There's no real answer

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<v Speaker 1>to that question. That's really an individual issue that they

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<v Speaker 1>will have to decide when they talk to their lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>about how they want to roll the dice here. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>target letters have been sent out to some students, and

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<v Speaker 1>when we've talked before, it's been like, well, the students

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<v Speaker 1>are probably won't be charged, but why if they're trying

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<v Speaker 1>to send a message, why not charge some of the

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<v Speaker 1>students who cooperate in the scheme. Why? I think that's

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<v Speaker 1>still a possibility. You typically don't send out target letters

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<v Speaker 1>if you don't intend to charge those individuals. It does

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<v Speaker 1>put pressure on the parents, certainly if they have to

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<v Speaker 1>not only consider their own freedom, but now the freedom

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<v Speaker 1>of their children. So that's one value in sending out

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<v Speaker 1>those letters. But I think they also may find some

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<v Speaker 1>students out there who clearly knew what was going on,

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<v Speaker 1>who knew what their parents were doing, who knew what

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<v Speaker 1>their parents were paying for. Perhaps those who were involved

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<v Speaker 1>in the in the part of the scheme that had

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<v Speaker 1>to do with posing as an athlete, but in fact

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<v Speaker 1>they weren't athletes. If they can find cases where the

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<v Speaker 1>evidence is particularly strong, it's possible we may see the

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<v Speaker 1>government charging students as well as parents and coaches. Here.

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<v Speaker 1>Yale has rescinded the admission of a freshman whose parents

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<v Speaker 1>paid one point two million for her admission, and Stanford

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<v Speaker 1>rescinded the admission of a Chinese student whose parents paid

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<v Speaker 1>a whopping six point five million. But what about the

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<v Speaker 1>students who have already received diplomas and didn't know about

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<v Speaker 1>the scheme? It could the could the schools take away

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<v Speaker 1>their diplomas well. The schools are clearly looking into these

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<v Speaker 1>issues for a host of reasons. They have reputational issues

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<v Speaker 1>here that they're concerned about, and they want to make

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<v Speaker 1>sure that there was no further wrongdoing by anybody else

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<v Speaker 1>on the inside, because part of this scheme that is

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<v Speaker 1>so troubling to the schools is not only did it

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<v Speaker 1>involve these educational consultants, but there was a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>activity on a lot of culpability on the part of

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<v Speaker 1>coaches inside these universities who accepted bribes in order to

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<v Speaker 1>create these false athletic profiles. For students, So schools will

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<v Speaker 1>take a close look at that, to the extent that

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<v Speaker 1>they're looking at students who may have already graduated, I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think there's a lot that they can do at

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<v Speaker 1>this point, but probably be looking more at students who

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<v Speaker 1>are at the school right now, because they can still

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<v Speaker 1>take action by dismissing those students if they find that

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<v Speaker 1>their admission was in somehow, in some way tainted by

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<v Speaker 1>this kind of fraud. Now, speaking about that, there's a

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<v Speaker 1>federal class action suit on behalf of qualified rejected students

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<v Speaker 1>accusing eight of the schools of negligence, saying that missions

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<v Speaker 1>process was warped and rigged by fraud. Is that a

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<v Speaker 1>tough case to make? I think that is a bit

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<v Speaker 1>of anfl case. Uh. The government has portrayed the schools

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<v Speaker 1>here as victims, putting aside the fact that there may

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<v Speaker 1>have been some people on the inside of these universities

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<v Speaker 1>that played a role. Innus people in the admissions process

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<v Speaker 1>do not seem to have been involved, and so I

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<v Speaker 1>think it's going to be difficult to make that case stick.

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<v Speaker 1>They really have to show that the admissions process was

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<v Speaker 1>so tainted across the board that each of these individuals

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<v Speaker 1>who applied what we're in some way damaged by this

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<v Speaker 1>fraudulent scheme. So, you know, Bob, as far as one

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<v Speaker 1>of the things, I've been curious the the uh the

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<v Speaker 1>students who got in on the fake scholarships, the athletic scholarships,

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<v Speaker 1>and their their faces were photoshopped into ports, into pictures

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<v Speaker 1>within their sport, and they're alleged sport and it seems

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<v Speaker 1>like that's something that easily can be checked out by

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<v Speaker 1>a school or should be maybe you know, whether or

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<v Speaker 1>not there on the teams they say they are. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>I do think schools are going to be looking at

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<v Speaker 1>how this could have happened. Even with the culpability if

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<v Speaker 1>some of these insiders, some of these assistant coaches who

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<v Speaker 1>were involved, it certainly suggests that there was not the

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<v Speaker 1>type of scrutiny and verification that should have been going

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<v Speaker 1>on here to have allowed this to have gone on

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<v Speaker 1>for so long, involving so many different students over many years.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks so much, Bob. That's Robert Mintz is a former

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<v Speaker 1>federal prosecutor and head of the white collar practice at

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<v Speaker 1>McCarter and English. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>You can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,

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<v Speaker 1>and on bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. I'm June Brosso.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg yea