Prosecutors are targeting more parents in the nationwide admissions scam — and now wealthy families with ties to the scheme’s mastermind are freaking out and lawyering up, according to a new report.
Since busting dozens of moms and dads in the scandal earlier this year — including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin — the feds have told at least two other parents in California that they’re now under investigation and have started subpoenaing financial and phone records, according to the New York Times.
Three students have also received letters from prosecutors notifying them they’re targets in the ongoing probe, the paper says.
Meanwhile, many other Los Angeles-area clients of crooked college prep advisor William “Rick” Singer — who haven’t yet heard from prosecutors — are worried they’re next, and some are preemptively hiring lawyers
“For many of these people, this is the only thing they can think about,” one LA defense attorney, whose firm represents several parents who haven’t been charged, told the Times.
Some of the uncharged parents are already considering turning themselves in the hopes of receiving a more lenient sentence, according to the paper.
The scandal has been a boon for defense attorneys in California and Boston, where the case is based, and the lawyers have been sharing details on plea deals and discovery.
Some students at the University of Southern California have also retained lawyers, after the school told them their admission is now under investigation over the scandal — and their attorneys have been meeting almost every day with USC officials, the Times reports.
Thirty-three parents were originally charged in the scheme in March, alongside school officials and Singer himself.
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