Another arrest in college scandal

The “Varsity Blues” college scam case now has 52 defendants after a Chinese national was accused Tuesday of paying $400,000 to get her tennis player son into UCLA as a soccer recruit.

Spanish authorities arrested Xiaoning Sui, 48, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office said. She is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, per the March indictment unsealed by federal Judge M. Page Kelley.

The indictment states the UCLA men’s soccer head coach, two USC women’s soccer coaches, scandal mastermind Rick Singer and an unnamed tennis recruiter in Sarasota conspired last year to recruit Sui’s son to UCLA’s soccer team despite his lack of competitive soccer experience.

In August 2018, Singer gave the tennis recruiter prices for securing admission to various universities, including to UCLA, according to prosecutors.

Later that month, Singer, in a conference call with Sui, the recruiter and a Chinese translator, allegedly explained the recruitment process, the feds say, telling Sui she would need to put $400,000 in an escrow account for the process and her son would not “know anything is happening.”

Former USC women’s soccer assistant coach Laura Janke is accused of sending Singer a fabricated soccer profile for Sui’s son with a photograph of a different individual, and Singer is alleged to have sent the fabricated profile to both Jorge Salcedo, UCLA’s then-men’s soccer head coach, and Ali Khosroshahin, the former USC women’s soccer head coach.

Sui’s son was approved as a UCLA soccer recruit in November, with a 25% scholarship, prosecutors say.

Singer, Janke and Khosroshahin have all pleaded guilty in federal court to their role in the wide-ranging scandal.

Others who have pleaded not guilty in the scandal, including actress Lori Loughlin, will not be required to attend their status conference scheduled for Oct. 2. Felicity Huffman was found guilty last week in the scam and was sentenced to 14 days in jail.