Yale has yanked admission for one of their students who had allegedly only gotten into their university because of a massive bribe paid by her parents. The now ex-student was (unknowlingly or not) tied into the ongoing admissions scandal which had rocked academia and also pissed a lot of people off. This action was particularly noteworthy since it marks the first instance of a school booting an undergrad since the grift became public knowledge a few weeks ago.
According to the school's website, two people applied to the prestigious university with fake athletic credentials from women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith. One was accepted and one was denied. No further info on that student is provided, and she is only identified in court documents as "Yale Applicant 1."
The decision to kick her out came as the school tries to contain the fallout from the widespread scandal. 50 people, including 33 rich parents, have been arrested for carrying out the scheme, which involved bribing coaches and cheating on standardized tests.
CNN reports that the mastermind of this con, Rick Singer, has pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including: racketeering, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the US and obstruction of justice. He is also reportedly cooperating with prosecutors.
Court documents state that Singer made a phony athletic profile for the girl, which was then passed along to Meredith. In turn, Meredith passed her off as a soccer recruit to help her get into the school. For this, Singer was allegedly paid $1.2 million. After that payment was made he sent a check for $400,000 to Meredith.
Meredith attempted to solicit a bribe from a second applicant's father, unfortunately (for him) that was a setup by the FBI. He began cooperating with authorities and, that same month, resigned from the program.
According to the school itself:
"On the very rare occasion when Yale receives an allegation that a current student included false information in an application, Yale gives the student the opportunity to address the allegation.
"If Yale determines that the allegation is true, the student's admission is rescinded, based on language in the application that requires applicants to affirm that everything in the application is true and complete."
No word on a refund from that $1.2 million though.
