Three Bay Area parents pleading guilty this week in college admission scandal

A Napa Valley vintner and two Menlo Park business owners are among eight wealthy parents who are expected to plead guilty this week in the nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.

The parents will enter their guilty pleas in federal court in Boston, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts. One father, Agustin Huneeus Jr. of San Francisco, is expected to enter his guilty plea Tuesday afternoon.

The eight parents are accused of hiring college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to boost their children’s entrance exams or to create fake athletic profiles to help them gain admission to prestigious U.S. colleges as athletic recruits.

The parents are expected to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, the Los Angeles Times reported. They also are among 20 parents and coaches who already have entered guilty pleas in “Operation Varsity Blues” or who will do so in the near future, according to the Times.

Their pleas are presumably part of cooperation deals with prosecutors to avoid lengthy prison sentences. Prosecutors have said in court filings they will recommend prison time and hefty fines for parents in some of the cases — the charges carry up to 20 years. However, the final decision will be left up to a judge.

TV actress Felicity Huffman, for example, may end up serving a relatively light sentence of four to 10 months in prison after accepting a cooperation deal. She pleaded guilty at the Boston courthouse last week, acknowledging she paid Singer $15,000 to boost her daughter’s SAT score. She previously issued a statement apologizing for her actions and for the pain she had caused “the educational community,” her friends and her family, notably her oldest daughter, 18.

Fourteen Bay Area parents have been charged in the scandal. Hillsborough couple, Bruce and Davina Isackson, entered guilty pleas in early May and will be sentenced late July. The three entering guilty pleas this week are:

Agustin Huneeus Jr. of San FranciscoHuneeus, whose family owns Napa’s Quintessa winery and heads the company’s wine portfolio, allegedly paid Singer $50,000 to get his daughter into USC, ostensibly as a water polo player. The money would ultimately go as a bribe to Donna Heinel, USC’s senior associate athletic director, according to the complaint.

Huneeus allegedly learned about Singer’s services from William McGlashan, another parent at Marin Academy, the private prep school in San Rafael their children attend, according to the complaint. McGlashan, of Mill Valle, is the founder of a prominent San Francisco equity firm and also was charged in the scandal. He has pleaded not guilty to allegedly hiring Singer to fake ACT results for his son.

With Huneeus, he and Singer were recorded by investigators talking about how Huneeus’ daughter wasn’t “worthy” to be on the water polo team. At one point Hunees asked: “I just want to confirm. She actually won’t really be part of the water polo team, right?”

:No, no,” Singer said. “She doesn’t have to do anything.”

Huneeus at another point complained that the person who took the SAT exam in place of his daughter earned only 1380 out of a possible 1600. Huneeus asked if his daughter’s score could have been as high as 1550.

But Singer told him that such a high score would probably be noticed, given that her grades apparently didn’t show her to be that academically gifted. “I would have got investigated for sure based on her grades,” Singer said.

Huneeus also “sought reassurance that his $50,000 payment to Heinel would be returned if his daughter was not admitted to USC,” the complaint shows.

Peter Jan Sartorio of Menlo ParkSartorio, a packaged food entrepreneur, is expected to enter his plea on Wednesday. He allegedly paid $15,000 in cash in June 2017 to have a fraudulent proctor oversee his daughter’s ACT exam and correct her answers.

The test took place at a West Hollywood test center instead of at the daughter’s high school, Singer had contacts with administrators at the center who had agreed to take bribes to allow Singer’s alleged cheating schemes to take place there, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges that Sartorio’s daughter received a score of 27 out of a possible 36 on the ACT, which placed her in about the 86th percentile. She had not previously taken the ACT.

Prosecutors noted the girl had previously earned scores of 900 and 960 out of a possible 1600 in successive administrations of the PSAT, which placed her between the 42nd and 51st percentile for her grade level.

According to the complaint, Sartorio was recorded on October 25, 2018, listening to Singer explain that his Key Worldwide Foundation was being audited by the Internal Revenue Services. Singer used this educational non-profit to receive payments from parent clients that were disguised as purported donations, the complaint said.

After Singer assured Sartorio he would not mention to the IRS how he had someone take “the test” for his daughter, the two talked about getting “our stories correct,” the complaint said.

Sartorio told Singer that there was no record of such an arrangement, the complaint said: “There is — no — there is no record on my end like a 1040. There is nothing on my end that shows that your company, or anyone else received cash payments.”

Marjorie Klapper of Menlo ParkThe jewelry business co-owner is expected to enter her guilty plea Friday. She is accused of paying $15,000 to Singer’s Key foundation in November 2017 after a phony proctor oversaw the ACT exam for her son at the West Hollywood test center.

After Klapper’s son received a score of 30 out of a possible 36, she emailed a copy of the test score to Singer, with the message: “Omg. I guess he’s not testing again.” Singer replied, “Yep he is brilliant.”

Singer also told Klapper he was being audited in a recorded conversation on Oct. 24, 2018. As with other parent clients, Singer told Klapper to make sure she doesn’t say anything about the money she paid going toward someone else taking the ACT for her son.

“You’re gonna say that the — the $15,000 that you paid to our foundation was to help underserved kids,” Singer told her, according to the comlaint. “I just wanted to make sure that our stories were aligned.

“OK,” she replied, “Got it.”

The story is developing.