USA TODAY International Edition
Judge: ‘ What makes your children entitled?’
BOSTON – As U. S. District Judge Indira Talwani prepared to sentence a Los Angeles business executive in the nation’s college admissions scandal last month, she first had something to say about the motives of parents like him.
The father and businessman, Devin Sloane, told the judge he “wanted what was best for my son.” That’s why he paid $ 250,000 to Rick Singer, the mastermind of a nationwide admissions scheme, to get him into the University of Southern California posing as a water polo recruit.
But was Sloane really trying to help his child, the judge asked, or to make himself look good?
“I find that’s at issue in all of these cases,” Talwani said from the dais in the packed courtroom. “It’s not basic caretaking for your child. It’s not getting your child food or clothing. It’s not even getting your child an education. It’s getting your child into a college that you call ‘ exclusive.’
“Are they doing this for their children or their own status?”
Talwani, 59, a President Barack Obama appointee to the U. S. District Court of Massachusetts, has handed down each of the five sentences so far to parents charged in the “Varsity Blues” scandal. Each has gotten some amount of prison time. Sloane, founder and CEO of waterTALENT, received four months.
Four more parents who have pleaded guilty are set to be sentenced by Talwani this month. Talwani on Tuesday sentenced the case’s first couple, Gregory and Marcia Abbott, to one month in prison each. The Abbotts, who reside in New York and Aspen, Colorado, paid a total of $ 125,000 to have their daughter’s college entrance exams answers fixed to get her into Duke University, her mother’s alma mater.
The judge isn’t just doling out prison terms. In holding parents accountable, Talwani has embraced the admission scam’s societal significance, openly addressing the public outage that surrounds it.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, said the case and Talwani’s remarks “reflect what people are thinking in the broader society.”
When parents such as Stephen Semprevivo said they paid into Singer’s scheme out of fear during the college admissions process, Talwani pushed back. The former Cydcor executive paid $ 400,000 to get his son into Georgetown University as a fake tennis recruit.
“Think about how terrifying that process is for the applicant whose parents didn’t go to college,” Talwani said at his sentencing hearing. She singled out inner- city and rural children who lacked resources but made it to college anyway. “Their legitimacy is challenged every day that somehow they were the ones who got a break to get there.”
Semprevivo’s attorney argued his client was a victim of Singer’s manipulation, but the judge returned the discussion to the father’s privilege.
“I don’t criticize you for being taken into a crime by someone with skills of masterful deception. That’s how crimes happen all the time,” Talwani said. “I think the question that people need to ask is, what makes your children entitled to a side door ( into college)?”
The judge sentenced Semprevivo to four months in prison.
On Tuesday, the Abbotts delivered passionate statements to the judge, recounting how they took part in Singer’s scheme only to help a daughter whose battle with Lyme disease had forced her out of the classroom. It came as their son was dealing with addiction and their 31- year marriage was falling apart, they said.
But before sentencing the couple, Talwani discussed the need to send a message to wealthy parents who weren’t dissuaded by the steep price tag of Singer’s cheating scheme.
“That is the piece I am struggling with,” Talwani said.
“When you are confronted with this option, the question isn’t whether I have the money to pay for this, the question is whether I should do this or don’t do this?”