Menlo Park father avoids jail in admissions scandal
A Menlo Park father is the first parent to avoid prison time in the socalled “Varsity Blues” case, a farreaching college admissions scandal that ensnared the deeppocketed elite and Hollywood actors.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Peter Jan Sartorio, 53, on Friday to one year of probation and ordered him to complete 250 hours of community service and pay a $9,500 fine.
Sartorio this spring was also the first to admit guilt in the scheme. In May, he officially pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honestservices mail fraud.
Prosecutors say Sartorio, a packagedfood entrepreneur, paid $15,000 in a conspiracy to have his daughter’s ACT score inflated to a 27 out of 36, which is in the 86th percentile. When Sartorio’s daughter had taken practice tests for the SAT, a different college admission exam, she had scored in the 42nd and 51st percentiles, prosecutors said.
Sartorio is the eighth defendant to be sentenced in the case. Incarceration time for others sentenced has ranged from one day served to five months, and dozens of cases are still pending.
The case centered around alleged mastermind William Rick Singer, who ran the Edge College and Career Network and a charity called Key Worldwide Foundation. The mechanics involved taking large sums of money from wealthy parents, then bribing test proctors, university officials and college coaches to secure placement in top universities.
Thirteen of the parents implicated hailed from the Bay Area, including San Francisco wine magnate Agustin Huneeus Jr., 53, and Mill Valley investor William McGlashan Jr., 55.
Huneeus received the stiffest sentence to date — five months in prison plus a $100,000 fine. Officials say Huneeus paid $50,000 to have a proctor correct his daughter’s entrance exam, paid another $50,000 to a University of Southern California athletic department official, and agreed to shell out $200,000 upon her acceptance as a USC water polo player. Prosecutors charged Huneeus before that payment.
McGlashan in April pleaded not guilty, claiming he never used a “side door” to get his son accepted to USC as a football recruit. Prosecutors allege he paid $50,000 for Singer to get a proctor to correct his son’s ACT answers to a score of 34, out of 36.
McGlashan was also willing to hand over $250,000 in a bribe to secure his son a slot as a football recruit at USC, prosecutors said, despite the fact that the son never played football.
The case also netted Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer, who received a oneday, timeserved sentence.
Actress Felicity Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison for her role in the scam, while actress Lori Loughlin’s case is still pending in court. Loughlin pleaded not guilty in April.
Singer pleaded guilty in March and has yet to be sentenced.