Operation Varsity Blues fallout continues to swirl following the FBI’s indictment of 50 people who were allegedly involved in the ivy league admissions scheme. Although actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have both posted bail ($250,000 and $1 million, respectively), each could face up to five years in prison. The mastermind of the scheme, William Rick Singer, has since claimed to have helped several hundred wealthy families over a period of years, and now, the University of Southern California must determine what to do about those students who’ve become wrapped up in the fiasco.
Many students were apparently not aware of their parents’ actions, but Huffman allegedly hired Singer’s organization to help boost her daughter’s SAT score by over 400 points for another university, and Lori Loughlin has been accused of bribing USC officials to admit her eldest daughter, Olivia Jade (shown left, above), a vlogger and Instagram influencer who’s made it pretty clear that she’s not interested in education. USC hasn’t made definitive calls yet on all of the involved students but has issued an ominous statement:
“Applicants in the current admissions cycle who are connected to the scheme alleged by the government will be denied admission to USC. We are going to conduct a case-by-case review for current students and graduates that may be connected to the scheme alleged by the government. We will make informed, appropriate decisions once those reviews have been completed. Some of these individuals may have been minors at the time of their application process.”
At this time, at least six students who were in the application process have been denied USC admission due to ongoing scheme operations. The fates of both Olivia Jade and her younger sister, Isabella Rose, remains unknown at this time, but Olivia’s already suffering financial fallout. Sephora announced on Thursday that they’ve canceled a lucrative partnership with Olivia, who’s also a vlogger that boasts over two million subscribers.
In addition, USC has fired a head coach and one other administrator after they were both indicted over this scheme. As for Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, they’re expected to make their next court appearance (along with Felicity Huffman) in Boston on March 29.
(Via CBS Los Angeles & Boston Globe)
