Parents could face tax charges, big fines in U.S. college admissions scam
Now some parents who are already facing possible prison time could be hit with additional criminal charges and stiff financial penalties, experts say.
Consultant Rick Singer funneled millions of dollars from parents through his tax-exempt organization and then used it to pay coaches and other insiders to designate applicants as athletic recruits or cheat on entrance exams, prosecutors allege. Singer's foundation sent the parents letters thanking them for the donation that claimed "no goods or services were exchanged," allowing many of them to deduct the payments from their taxes as charitable contributions, prosecutors say.
"Dude, dude, what do you think, I'm a moron?" Agustin Huneeus, Jr. a Napa Valley, California, vintner, replied. An email was sent to Huneeus' attorney on Monday. To convict them of tax crimes, prosecutors would have to prove that they not only purposely underpaid, but knew they were breaking the law when they did. If may be a difficult sell, but parents could try to argue that their statements on the phone calls don't prove that they knew the deductions were illegal.
Some parents are accused of paying Singer's charity through their own family foundations, which could face their own set of civil penalties and lose their tax-exempt status, experts say.
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