Two parents in college admissions case sentenced

 

Parents paid 600,000 dollars to facilitate their daughters' college admissions

Date: June 28, 2022

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Two California parents were sentenced today in federal court in Boston for their participation in the college admissions case in which they paid a total of $600,000 to facilitate their children's admission to college.

Bruce Isackson and Davina Isackson of Hillsborough, California, were each sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris to time served (approximately one day in prison), one year of probation and 250 hours of community service. Additionally, Bruce Isackson was ordered to pay a fine of $7,500 and Davina Isackson was ordered to pay a fine of $1,000. In May 2019, the Isacksons pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Bruce Isackson also pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS. The Isacksons cooperated with the government's investigation.

The Isacksons conspired with William "Rick" Singer and others – including university athletic coaches and administrators as well as standardized test administrators – to secure their daughters' admission to elite colleges and universities through bribery and fraud. Specifically, the Isacksons agreed to pay Singer a total of $600,000 to facilitate cheating on their younger daughter's college entrance exam to obtain an inflated test score, as well as to facilitate both daughters' college admissions as purported athletic recruits. To conceal the scheme, Bruce Isackson conspired to make the bribes appear as charitable donations by laundering the payments through Singer's fake charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation, and deducted the payments from their taxes as purported charitable contributions.

Case information, including the status of each defendant, is available on the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Office website.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins; Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations in Boston; and

Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen E. Frank, Leslie A. Wright, Kristen A. Kearney and Ian Stearns of Rollins' Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.