Cheats and prospering: Wealthy snared in college bribery scandal

Three Texas residents have been indicted and arrested in a college testing and admissions scheme that helped arrange bribes, coordinate cheating on major college entrance exams, and orchestrate athletic recruitment scams in order to get students into elite universities around the country.

Houston resident Lisa “Niki” Williams, described as an assistant teacher at a local public high school who administered exams at a test center, was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering for “facilitating cheating on ACT and SAT exams in exchange for bribes.” Williams, 44, also allowed a third party, Mark Riddell of Palmetto, Fla., to secretly take tests for students and provide or correct their responses on exams, according to court documents.

Martin Fox, a Houston resident once employed as “a president of a private tennis academy and camp,” was also indicted on a conspiracy to commit racketeering charge.

According to court documents, Fox, 62, arranged and organized several bribes, including bribes to Williams, who received $5,000 in one instance in July 2018, and to University of Texas at Austin tennis men’s coach Michael Center.

Fox’s name is listed on business records for King Daddy Sports, a sports coaching academy and camp. But on Tuesday, Todd Folsom, the founder and director of the organization, said the company has not worked with Fox for 10 to 15 years. He declined to give further comment.

Center, 54, charged with “conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud,” accepted roughly $100,000 in bribes about four years ago in exchange for recruiting a student to the tennis team despite the applicant not playing competitive tennis, the indictment says. The student was ultimately admitted, and Fox was paid $100,000 for arranging the bribe, according to a court document.

Fox, Williams and Center were each arrested early Tuesday, according to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.

They are among 50 people who have been charged in the college cheating and bribery scandal, including wealthy parents and actresses Felicity Huffman, who appeared in “Desperate Housewives,” and Lori Loughlin who starred on “Full House.”

More than a dozen arrests were made Tuesday morning, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Justice.

UT-Austin has put Center on administrative leave after university officials were notified by federal authorities that they were “victims of an organized criminal effort involving admissions,” a school official confirmed Tuesday morning.

“Integrity in admissions is vital to the academic and ethical standards of our university,” university spokesman J.B. Bird said in a statement.

“The University of Texas at Austin is cooperating with federal investigators and is concerned by the allegations raised, which run counter to the university’s values,” Bird said. “We are continuing to gather information and review our processes. Based on what we know at present, we believe this was an isolated incident in 2015 that involved one coach and no other university employees or officers.”

Center was scheduled to appear in federal court in Austin Tuesday, and he is scheduled to appear in court in Massachusetts later this month.

“I want to commend the University of Texas for their swift action in light of this nationwide admissions scandal, and their ongoing commitment to integrity and security in college admissions,” Texas state Sen. Brandon Creighton, chair of the Senate Committee on Higher Education, said Tuesday.

Wiretap evidence

A court-ordered wiretap, described in an affidavit, reveals that Jane Buckingham, a Los Angeles-based writer and CEO of a boutique marketing firm, was working with Williams and “CW-1,” an unnamed individual who was integral to the college bribery and cheating scheme, to have her son take an exam with assistance in Houston. A third party, listed as “CW-2,” — possibly Riddell — flew in from Florida for one day to help Buckingham’s son with his exam.

The wiretap conversations show how a test site was changed and what the person taking the test would do:

“CW-1: Hey there, so I just talked to Niki. So you guys are gonna meet at 8 a.m. in front of the (Houston Test Center).

BUCKINGHAM: Okay.

CW-1: And you’re actually not gonna take the test there you because they’re doing some re-modeling at the school. …

She’s gonna walk you across the street to Texas Southern University, ’cause it’s right across the street. … And they’re gonna have aclassroom all set up for the proctor, (CW-2) and (your son), and then Niki will take care of the rest.

BUCKINGHAM: Amazing, and is it okay if he takes it all in one day?

CW-1: He’s going to take it one day ’cause (CW-2) is only flying in from Florida for one day. … but on the form it will say two days.”

Another test administrator in Los Angeles was also bribed into allowing students to cheat and has been similarly charged.

Texas Southern University is not implicated in the scheme.

$25M for bribes

For-profit college counseling and preparation program the Edge College and Career Network, also known as The Key, was behind the nationwide scheme, for which parents paid anywhere between $15,000 and $75,000 per test, according to documents.

The program’s owner William Rick Singer, 58, of California, received an estimated $25 million to bribe coaches and administrators at elite universities around the country between 2011 and February 2019.

Fake student athletic “profiles,” aimed to boost students’ resumes and their chances at admission, were also created and submitted to athletic programs at universities including Yale, Georgetown, Wake Forest, Stanford, UCLA and USC in exchange for money, according to the indictments.

Singer, who served as CEO of nonprofit corporation Key Worldwide Foundation, a purported charity, funneled payments and disguised the bribes as charitable payments, court documents stated.

Singer also worked with parents and coached them on forms of fraud and bribery. Among those schemes to get children into colleges, he advised parents to request more time for testing by claiming their children have learning disabilities. Singer was arrested and charged with racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy and obstruction of justice. brittany.britto@chron.com twitter.com/brittanybritto