A class-action civil lawsuit has been filed by two California college students against eight top universities in connection with the massive college admission bribery scandal that has already led to federal criminal charges against TV stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, as well as top business and legal executives.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California by Stanford University students Erica Olsen and Kalea Woods accuses each of the universities of being "negligent in failing to maintain adequate protocols and security measures in places to guarantee the sanctity of the college admissions process."
And the suit says that as a result of the schemes "unqualified students found their way into the admissions rolls of highly selective universities, while those students who played by the rules and did not have college-bribing parents were denied admission."
Defendants in the lawsuit include Yale University, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, UCLA, the University of San Diego, the University of Texas, Wake Forest University and Georgetown University. Federal prosecutors have said the schools were victims of the scam.
Also named as defendants are William "Rick" Singer and his college prepatory business, the Edge College & Career Network, who had pleaded guilty to masterminding the scheme to help children of wealthy people get into universities through a combination of bribing college athletic coaches, having other people take admission tests for the applicants and hiring people to correct students' incorrect answers on those tests.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
Loughlin, who was released on $1 million bail on Wednesday, is accused with her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli of paying a total of $500,000 in bribes to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California. The daughters were given preferred status for admissions purposes because they supposedly were rowing recruits. Neither of them rows.
Manuel Henriquez of Hercules Capital on Wednesday voluntarily stepped aside as chairman and CEO, effective immediately, in the wake of charges he participated in the $25 million college admissions cheating scheme, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues by federal investigators.
Also charged in the alleged scam is former Pacific Investment Management Co. CEO Douglas Hodge, William McGlashan Jr., a senior executive at TPG Capital; Gordon Caplan, co-chairman of international law firm Willkie Farr; and Agustin Huneeus, head of the Huneeus vineyard in Napa Valley.
Posecutors allege that Hodge paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes for his daughters' admission into USC.
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