Donna Heinel, a former gatekeeper and administrator for athletes in the University of Southern California, was sentenced on Friday to prison for six months for her role in the college admissions scandalthat pushed through fake athletic recruits who's families could afford large gifts to the school.

In the span of four years, she was paid over $1 million worth of compensation to U.S.C. athletic funds she managed and also $160,000, which was part of a promise to pay $400,000 to her in the form of consulting fees, as per prosecutor.

At the hearing in the federal court in Boston in Boston, Judge Indira Talwani told the court she was taking into consideration the fact that the Dr. Heinel was "a well-respected person at U.S.C." who "did a lot of good," and also that she was accountable for two infants. The prosecution had suggested the she. Heinel be sentenced to 24 months.

In addition to six months of prison time Judge Talwani also sent the Dr. Heinel to two years of supervised release and the sum of $160,000 as forfeiture. Heinel was sentenced to two years of supervised release and forfeiture. Heinel had pleaded guilty to fraud committed by honest services wire.

Doctor. Heinel apologized to her colleagues at U.S.C., her voice breaking and her cheeks turning red. "I beat myself up on the inside all the time," she confessed. "I disgust myself."

Key Figures in "Operation Varsity Blues"

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More than 50 people were charged. In the year 2019 a federal probe dubbed by the name of Operation Varsity Blues snared dozens of coaches, parents, and test administrators as part of an extensive college admissions scheme that involved athletes at University of Southern California, Yale, Stanford and other schools.

The pivot. William Singer, a college counselor, and the mastermind behind the scheme, orchestrated an elaborate plan to pay coaches and test monitors, falsify test scores and create fake biographies of students. Singer pleaded guilty and accepted to cooperate with authorities. On January. 4 the sentence was 3 1/2 years prison.

However, she was also defensive and said "It was just so much pressure to raise money at my institution."

The allegations against Dr. Heinel arose from Operation Varsity Blues which is a federal probe that revealed an untrustworthy college consultant, William Singer, working with wealthy parents who gave him hundreds of thousands in cash bribes and bribes to ensure their children's admission to some of the most competitive universities across the nation. A plethora of coaches, parents, and officials who conduct tests have been found guilty of the scheme. The defendant, Mr. Singer, known as Rick was a co-conspirator in the investigation and was sentenced to the equivalent of three decades in prison.

Prosecutors alleged they believe that They claimed that. Heinel, a senior administrator of the athletic department, was a shrewd business herself and used her role as the liaison for U.S.C.'s athletes' coaches as well as the committee that oversees athletic admissions. They claimed that as a bribe by the chairman, Mr. Singer, she misled committee members into approving the admission of more than two dozen potential athletic recruits on the basis of fake athletic profile.

"Heinel made these applicants appear to be legitimate recruits -- that is, high-caliber players who had been selected by U.S.C.'s athletic coaches," the government's memorandum on sentencing stated.

In truth the coaches hadn't been able to recruit them and many were not even playing in the sports they were hired to play, according to the prosecution.

The fake recruits comprised an athlete from football at a school that didn't have a sports team. Also, there was a five-foot-five-foot men's basketball player, and an high school cheerleader who was portrayed as a star lacrosse player.

In one instance, U.S.C. admissions officials called Mr. Heinel about several students who's high school counselors were shocked to learn that they were admitted as athletes being recruited, according to the prosecutors. The Dr. Heinel called Mr. Singer and told him that parents must be stopped from arguing with their counselors or else they'd "shut everything down."

Prosecutors also uncovered spreadsheets created by Dr. Heinel that flagged potential athletes to recruit. The spreadsheets contained comments such as "long time donors" and "previously donated $25K to Heritage Hall."

The Dr. Heinel was the only administrator to be charged. The allegations were that she worked alongside the water polo coach Jovan Vavic, his former coach for soccer Ali Khosroshahin, who was dismissed in 2013; as well as his former assistant Laura Janke, who fabricated athletic profiles.

U.S.C. was fired by the U.S.C. Heinel in 2019, following the release of the investigation. She admitted guilt in the month of November 2021, just two weeks before her scheduled to stand trial.

In her memo of sentencing In her sentencing document, Dr. Heinel's attorneys noted that she was the highest-ranking female athlete in the athletics team and stated that, although she looked robust, she was an "fragile and insecure inner being." They argued that she was a victim to "the pressures put upon her by a dysfunctional university" and "the powerful men who inhabited her orbit."

Dr. Heinel's attorneys also claimed she had entrusted Dr. Heinel's lawyers and had a relationship with Mr. Singer and did not realize that the sports profiles he supplied were false, but they did "embellish" some on her own.

The memo also brought up the issue of the blurred distinction between college fund-raising and admissions.

"The Athletic department of U.S.C. has used walk-ons for a long time to raise money," the memo said and added that "the superior officials of the athletic department as well as the larger university advancement office have accepted and welcomed the underbelly of this as normal."

Kevin G. Andrade contributed reporting. Alain Delaqueriere contributed research.
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