An associate professor of dentistry at USC pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return after claiming as a charitable donation the $100,000 bribe he paid to get his daughter into the school, becoming the 31st parent to admit participating in a massive U.S. college cheating scandal.
Homayoun Zadeh, 60, told a federal judge in Boston Friday he sought to secure his daughter’s admission as a purported lacrosse player by agreeing in 2016 to make a series of payments to William “Rick” Singer, the admitted mastermind of a scam that’s led to charges against dozens of parents, coaches and test takers. While most have admitted guilt and were sentenced to time behind bars, seven parents are still fighting charges.
The date for Zadeh’s sentencing was set by the judge for Nov. 10.
Text messages show Zadeh agreed to make six monthly installments to Singer’s Key Worldwide Foundation, court records show. In exchange, Singer directed Laura Janke, then a USC women’s soccer coach and a participant in the scheme, to fabricate a lacrosse profile for the girl, the government said.
Janke, who has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors, and another USC official charged in the case succeeded in getting Zadeh’s daughter admitted as athletic recruit in March 2017, according to the U.S.
Zadeh later deducted the $100,000 in bribes from his 2017 taxes as a “charitable donation” when Zadeh knew they were not a legitimate contribution, prosecutors said.
As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop more serious charges, including money-laundering conspiracy. While filing a false tax return provides for a term of as long as three years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Zadeh will serve six weeks in prison, do 250 hours of community service and pay a $20,000 fine, according to the plea agreement.
The sentence is subject to the approval of U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton, who’s presiding over the case.
Dozens of parents, including actors like Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin as well as Doug Hodge, the former head of Pacific Investment Management Co., have admitted making payments to secure admission for their children in colleges across the country.
Zadeh’s plea leaves four parents set to go on trial in September and a second group of three parents who are tentatively scheduled for January 2022. However, prosecutors recently argued that with Zadeh’s guilty plea, the trials for the seven remaining parents should now be tried together “for logistical purposes.”
Prosecutors have argued the group should be considered as six because two of them, Amy Colburn and her husband Greg Colburn, “effectively count as a single defendant” because they “are married and jointly represented” sharing at least one defense lawyer.
Gorton hasn’t yet ruled on that request.