A California man was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday after he paid $400,000 to get his son into college, the latest sentencing in the “Varsity Blues” admissions scandal.
Stephen Semprevivo became the third person to be sentenced in a Boston federal court after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy and fraud in May for paying to get his son into Georgetown University as a tennis recruit by William “Rick” Singer, the scheme’s mastermind.
Semprevivo received a $100,000 fine, 500 hours community service and two years supervised release. He also may have to make restitution payments to Georgetown.
In an August letter asking for leniency, he said “foolish ambition” motivated him to make his son happy, and while he said he takes “total and full” responsibility, he said Singer manipulated him into joining the scheme.
“Looking back, I can see that Rick Singer worked me over and got me to do and believe things I am ashamed of and deeply regret,” he wrote. “I wanted the future for my son that he had worked so hard for. This was the main factor in my bad judgment.”
Semprevivo was accused of paying Singer’s sham charity $400,000 in exchange for him to bribe Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst to recruit Semprevivo’s son and other children in the scandal as athletes. Singer has pleaded guilty while Mr. Ernst has pleaded not guilty.
Semprevivo’s son has since been expelled from Georgetown.
Prosecutors recommended 13 months of imprisonment and an additional $95,000 fine for Semprevivo because he didn’t take full responsibility.
His lawyers asked for probation or home confinement and 2,000 hours of community service, claiming jail time would harm his family because his son has medical issues and would be “negatively impacted” by Semprevivo’s absence.
Earlier this month, actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 for her daughter’s SAT score to be boosted while Los Angeles business executive Devin Sloane received four months in prison this week for paying $250,000 to get his son recruited to University of Southern California as a water polo player.
While 15 people have pleaded guilty, including Huffman and Sloane, 19 others are attempting to fight the charges in court.
Two of those parents, “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of shelling out $500,000 for their two daughters to be admitted to the University of Southern California as members of the crew team, although neither girl participated in the sport.
Ms. Loughlin and Mr. Giannulli have declined their right to separate attorneys and are scheduled to appear in court Oct. 2.
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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