Businessman Sidoo faces more claims in U.S. scandal
Vancouver businessman David Sidoo has been hit with more allegations in the U.S. college admissions scandal.
Sidoo is among a group of wealthy parents who U.S. authorities claim made payments, and in some cases paid bribes, in order to get their children into high-end universities in the United States.
In March, Sidoo was charged with mail and wire fraud after being accused of making payments to Rick Singer — the mastermind of the scandal who is working with prosecutors — to get someone to take university entrance exams for his sons Dylan and Jordan. Sidoo pleaded not guilty to the charges.
On Tuesday, an updated indictment was filed that claimed Sidoo had arranged to have Singer create a false application letter for a university on behalf of his younger son, Jordan, and had tried without luck to have Singer arrange someone to complete other exams on Dylan’s behalf.
The first round of allegations are claimed to have occurred in the fall of 2011 when U.S. authorities believe Sidoo arranged to pay US$100,000 to have someone take the SAT exam for Dylan using a fake ID. Dylan then used that SAT score to apply to Chapman University. It’s claimed that in 2012, Sidoo arranged to have someone take the SAT on behalf of Jordan, also using a false ID, for the same amount. Authorities claim Sidoo made both the payments.
The latest allegations claim that Sidoo arranged with Singer in October 2013 to have a false university application essay written “describing Sidoo’s younger son’s purported internship with an organization that worked to combat violence among Los Angeles-based gangs. The essay falsely claimed that Sidoo’s younger son had been held up at gunpoint by gang members in Los Angeles.”
The fresh indictment also alleges that in 2015 Sidoo asked Singer to arrange someone to take either the Graduate Management Admission Test to get into business school or the Law School Admission Test on behalf of Dylan.
Allegedly, neither of these requests came to fruition because of fingerprinting requirements for the LSAT and because the ID Singer had acquired to have someone complete the GMAT test was not of high enough quality.
The indictment claims that Singer contacted Sidoo in October 2018, when they discussed Dylan’s plans to apply to business school.
David Chesnoff, lawyer for Sidoo, said Sidoo disputed all the allegations. “Let me be clear. The information released today are mere allegations from the mouths of admitted felons. Mr. Sidoo has a very robust defence that disputes these allegations,” Chesnoff said. Sidoo is free on bail. Neither of Sidoo’s sons have been accused of wrongdoing.
A Surrey mother, Xiaoning Sui, has also been charged in the college fraud investigations but was not named in Tuesday’s indictment. Sui, 48, has been charged with conspiracy, money laundering and wire fraud.
When last reported, Sui was detained in Spain and the U.S. was attempting to have her extradited to Boston to face the charges.