UT says it didn’t get funds allegedly donated
The University of Texas at Austin is investigating whether hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated to its athletic department by a purported charity linked to a college bribery scheme.
Federal tax documents show Key Worldwide Foundation, a California nonprofit that federal prosecutors say funneled bribes paid by wealthy parents to get their children into prestigious universities, donated a total of $546,500 in 2015 and 2016 to “University of Texas Athletics.”
The amount represents the largest sum the foundation reported having given to any school during those years.
But the university only has a record of a $15,000 donation in June 2015 for an outdoor tennis facility, UT-Austin spokesman J.B. Bird said.
Otherwise, the university’s records don’t match the donation amounts reported in the foundation’s records, Bird said.
“To our knowledge, this is the only record we have of a donation from, or related to, the organization,” Bird wrote in an email. “The university is in the process of reviewing other gifts that could be related to the 2015 incident, which could total several hundred thousand dollars. All information is being shared with federal investigators.”
Bird declined to provide details on the “other gifts” that are under examination.
The gap between what the supposed charity reported giving to UT and what the university received raises additional questions about Key Worldwide’s activities.
The foundation was created in 2012 by William “Rick” Singer, the alleged mastermind behind the college admissions scandal.
The foundation is the nonprofit arm of the Edge College and Career Network, a for-profit college counseling and preparation program in Newport Beach, Calif., that Singer headed and that was also known as The Key.
Singer pleaded guilty this week to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
In all, 50 people — including actresses Felicity Huffman of “Desperate Housewives” fame and Lori Loughlin of “Full House” — were charged in the alleged scheme to pay bribes, create fake athletic profiles and falsify test scores to secure students’ admission to Stanford, Yale, Georgetown, the University of California and other schools.
UT’s investigation into donations from Key Worldwide came as its former men’s tennis coach, 54year-old Michael Center, was fired following allegations that he accepted $100,000 in bribes from the foundation to help a California applicant gain admission.
Center allegedly designated the student as a tennis recruit, even though he didn’t play the sport competitively. After enrolling at UT-Austin, the student withdrew from the tennis team, court records state.
Prosecutors said Key Worldwide funds were used to write two checks, both payable to “Texas Athletics” — one for $25,000 in April 2015 and another for $15,000 in June 2015.
That same month, Center met with Singer in a hotel parking lot in Austin, where he received the $60,000 in cash, the federal indictment alleges.
The indictment cites a recorded conversation between Center and Singer, who is identified as Cooperating Witness 1, or “CW-1.” The conversation involved using funds for the university’s outdoor tennis facility:
CW-1: “I remember that we met and, you know, part — some of the money was gonna go towards your — was it your son’s bar mitzvah?”
Center: “Well, no. Well, we — I put some money in towards that facility, to be honest with you.”
CW-1: “OK. OK.” Center: “You sent me a couple checks that I put towards the facility.”
CW-1: “Right. Great.” Center: “And then I — and then — and then you came to Austin that one time.”
CW-1: “Right.” Center was arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud early Tuesday. His lawyer said he would plead not guilty.
The university fired Center on Wednesday and named Bruce Berque, UT’s assistant head coach of men’s tennis, as interim head coach.
“After working with campus leaders to review the recent situation with Michael Center, we have decided to relieve him of his duties as our Men’s Tennis coach,” Chris Del Conte, UT’s athletics director and vice president, said in a statement. “It’s a very difficult decision, and we are grateful for the years of service that he has provided, but winning with integrity will always be paramount at the University of Texas, and it was a decision that had to be made.”
According to court documents, the recruitment scam began about five years ago and resulted in one parent paying more than $631,000 to have his son admitted to UT-Austin.
Federal prosecutors allege that Martin Fox, described in court records as a Houston resident and tennis academy president, arranged bribes for the scheme.
Court documents say Fox forwarded the unnamed California student’s application materials to Center, who passed them on to an administrator in the UT Athletics Department in December 2014. The goal was for the student to be classified — falsely — as a studentathlete.
Fox, 62, was arrested Tuesday and charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering. He was released on a $50,000 bond.
Kent Schaffer, an attorney for Fox, said there’s insufficient evidence to support the allegations against his client. He said the government
is “trying to turn this case into something that it’s not.”
“They’ve alleged that (Fox) is a team member of a large-scale racketeering enterprise. … They’ve grossly overcharged the case,” Schaffer said.
“For many years, my client has been well-known and -respected in the field of athletics both in high school and college,” Schaffer said.
Prosecutors say the payments began in February 2015.
According to the indictment, the student’s father paid $455,194 to the Key Worldwide Foundation.
About a month later, prosecutors allege, Center notified the parent and student that the university would send a letter of intent for a “books” scholarship, a part of the recruitment process in which the university pays for student-athletes’ books.
In April, the student signed the letter and was “added to the UT tennis team roster as a recruited athlete,” court documents state. The student’s father made two additional payments — totaling more than
$176,000 — to the charity, court documents say.
Singer, 58, received an estimated $25 million to bribe coaches and administrators at elite universities around the country between 2011 and February 2019, according to the indictment.
Singer, who served as CEO of Key Worldwide Foundation, disguised the illegal payments as charitable donations, court documents state.
A native of Chicago, Singer spent several years in San Antonio in the mid-1980s.
He was a two-sport athlete at Trinity University, playing basketball and baseball He had transferred to the school after studying at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and Brookhaven College in Dallas. He graduated from Trinity in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and English.
Singer coached boys basketball for a year at MacArthur High School before leaving San Antonio for California.