Mark Riddell arrives in federal court in Boston on April 12, 2019. A former Florida school principal who took students’ entrance exams for bribery was sentenced Friday to four months in prison. A judge also sentenced Mark Riddell to two years in supervised release after he spent time in prison. The judge’s sentence was the one recommended by the prosecutors in the case. Riddell’s lawyers had asked the judge for one to two months in prison. In court, Riddell apologized to students who missed college opportunities because of his “terrible decision.” THIS IS AN INFORMATION UPDATE. The previous AP story follows. BOSTON (AP) – A well-known former water polo coach at the University of Southern California was found guilty on Friday of a huge bribery scandal involving college admissions. A federal court in Boston has convicted Jovan Vavic of fraud and bribery. He refused to comment after the hearing and left the court with his family. Vavic, 60, who led the USC men’s and women’s water polo teams to 16 national championships, received about $ 250,000 in bribes to designate unqualified water polo students to attend Anos’s elite school. the prosecutors. Vavic’s defense claimed that he did everything he could to raise money for his dominant program to win the championship, as demanded by the school’s sports officials. They also claimed that they never lied, that they were never bribed, and that they were victims of the USC’s desire to protect its reputation and to cover a “pervasive culture” of accepting wealthy students who could make unexpected donations. The university, which fired Vavic after his arrest in 2019, has stressed that admission procedures “are not being tested”. Nearly 60 people, including wealthy and famous parents, as well as college coaches and athletic directors have been indicted in Operation Varsity Blues, including “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. Also Friday, a judge plans to convict Mark Riddell, a former Florida school principal, for giving college entrance exams to wealthy students seeking admission to elite universities. The Harvard graduate, who emerged as a key figure in the wide-ranging scandal, admitted to secretly taking the ACT and SAT in place of the students or correcting their answers. Riddle, who worked with federal authorities in hopes of a shorter sentence, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in April 2019. U.S. Attorney for the Massachusetts office Rachael Rollins, in a testimony before Friday’s hearing, asked the judge to sentence Riddell to four months in prison. Riddell’s lawyers, in their own sentencing note, argued for one to two months in prison, saying he was neither the project leader nor a university expert, as coaches and college administrators are involved. Riddell oversaw college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy, a school in Bradenton, Florida that claims to be the largest sports academy in the world. Authorities say the system’s admissions consultant, Rick Singer, bribed test administrators to allow Riddle to pretend he was protecting exams for students so he could cheat on tests. Singer typically paid Riddell $ 10,000 per test to falsify the scores, prosecutors said. Riddle, who was fired from IMG Academy, earned more than $ 200,000 by cheating in more than 25 exams, prosecutors said.
