'Operation Varsity Blues' - 5 Things To Know About Netflix’s College Admission Scandal Documentary
Going to College has become a commodity, says Jon Reider, Former Stanford Admissions Officer. He states that going to college has become a transaction or something that you can buy... And People did buy it.
Rick Singer, mastermind behind the College Admissions Scandal dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues”
While the Former Admissions Officer wasn’t referring to an actual “side-door” transaction that mastermind Rick Singer orchestrated on behalf of his clients, this “side-door” option is exactly what the documentary investigates.
The College Admission Scandal rocked the US when it was announced in the Spring of 2019. Celebrities, CEOs, Hot Pocket Heiresses (yes, you read that right) and other high-profile parents were indicted in the FBI’s Operation dubbed “Varsity Blues” where it specifically investigated Rick Singer, the master-mind manipulator that took money from the privilege to pawn off their children to high-profile universities, illegally.
The documentary features re-enacted phone transcripts quoted verbatim from affidavits or testimonials from the Federal Trials between Singer and various parents working with him to get their children into prestigious colleges. The documentary features interviews with experts commenting on the historic case and even features plaintiffs in the trial, including a former Stanford Sailing Coach that had been implicated into the scandal. Most of the documentary features actors, re-enacting the transcripts from trial to create a narrative. Netflix’s uses this tactic to get around some of the “red tape” surrounding the scandal and leaves audiences with their own opinions on the case.
The largest disclaimer for this storytelling is offered at the beginning of the documentary stating:
The Conversations in the Documentary are Real.
They are recreations of wiretap transcripts released by the US Government.
Some Conversations have been combined or modified for time and clarity.
That being said, the entire time you watch this documentary, you can’t help but ask yourself asking; “How were they not caught earlier?” And the largest take-away from the Documentary was according to the phone transcripts, the parents definitely knew what they were doing was wrong and actively vocalized their concerns about getting caught.
Full House star, Lori Loughlin and husband, Mossimo Giannulli, were two of the largest celebrities caught up in the Scandal.
Netflix makes smart use of Olivia Jade, perhaps the most iconic child to get caught up in the scandal. Olivia is the daughter of Full House star, Lori Loughlin, and has been come to be known as the poster-child for white-privilege.
We find out in the documentary that Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, had their daughters Olivia and Bella pose on rowers to send to Rick Singer to have them get into USC on a rowing scholarship as coxswain’s. This comes right before a montage of Olivia filming herself during her first day of senior year in high school complaining about how much she hates school…that she then posted on the internet.
Ultimately, Olivia’s recruitment into USC on a “Crew Scholarship” was flagged by her High School Guidance Counselor who alerted his concerns to a USC Admissions Official by stating that he had never seen her participate in the sport and “based on what [he] knew of her video-blogging schedule, [he] highly doubted she was involved in the sport.” The guidance counselor was then confronted by Mossimo who he said became aggressive during his questioning of the counselor’s motives hindering his daughter’s college admission.
USC Senior Athletic Director was receiving $20K/Month Payments from Singer
The documentary explores, in great length, the connection between Rick Singer and USC Athletics. According to transcripts and tapes, Singer was in close contact with USC Senior Athletic Director, Donna Heinel. During the course of their involvement, Singer would pay Heinel up to $20K/month for her to advocate Singer’s recommended players to the Athletic Board for scholarship or team placement. A few of the recruits during this time included a 5’5” Basketball player and a Water Polo Player with no high school experience.
Singer was on Record Admitting to Photoshopping College Athlete Photos
During re-enacted phone transcripts between Singer and high-profile parents, Singer admitted to asking parents to take photos of their children, acting like they are playing a sport. He also offered to have parents send him photos of their children so he can photoshop their faces onto athletes to help them gain entry.
Singer had encouraged parents to exploit learning disabilities to earn extra time on entrance exam and used paid off proctors to achieve ideal score
During one of the schemes, Singer admitted to using parents to help their children qualify for extra time to take the Entrance Exams by having medical proof of learning disabilities. During this one example, Singer describes a scenario where a daughter of one of his “clients” goes into a room alone with a “proctor” who we find was paid off to take the test. While the daughter fills out the bubbles like she is taking the test on the scantron, but in reality, when she leaves the “proctor” will use the answer key to fill in the answers to achieve their ideal score.
The Proctor was Mark Riddell, a 36-year-old who worked with Singer to alert test scores of Signer’s “clients” children. During the court hearings, he, admitted to secretly taking the SAT and ACT for students, or correcting their answers, as part of a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme. Riddell was previously a College Exam Prep for IMG Academy and was reportedly paid $10K per test by Singer.
Mark Riddell admitted to change test scores for Singer’s “clients” in exchange for money.
So, after all that, how did Singer get caught and how did the Fed’s announce his arrest?
According to experts, there wasn’t one mistake that led to the catching of Singer and the parents of his College Admission Scheme. What happened was one of his clients, got arrested on an un-related charge and in exchange for lesser punishment, he name-dropped a Yale Coach, Rudy Meredith, stating that the coach accepted briberies to let in un-deserving students to the prestigious University. Once Meredith was brought in for questioning, he named dropped Singer. Meredith agreed to operate as an Informant to the FBI’s Investigation and things spiral from there.
Once they got Singer, it was his job to reel in the parents. Singer apparently called his clients to get them on record with the FBI admitting to the large sums of money donated to get their children in school where the FBI recorded their confessions and indicted them in their investigation as well. He was then wired with a microphone and camera to get his client’s confessions. His cooperation in the investigation was just as sleazy as his operation to scam Universities into acceptance.