Yale University has booted a student whose parents allegedly paid a $1.2 million bribe to get her in — the first expulsion in the nationwide college admissions scandal.
The student was one of two who applied to the elite New Haven school with a bogus, paid-for recommendation from women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith, Yale said in a statement.
She was the only one who was admitted and who was attending the Ivy League school when charges were brought in the sweeping scam two weeks ago. But her admission has since been rescinded, Yale ty spokesman Tom Conroy confirmed to The Post on Monday.
The identity of the student wasn’t made public. She is identified only as “Yale Applicant 1” in federal court documents.
According to the documents, admitted scheme mastermind William “Rick” Singer created a fake athletic profile for the applicant, describing her as the co-captain of a “prominent club soccer team in southern California.”
In exchange for a promised bribe, Meredith designated the applicant as a woman’s soccer recruit to help her get in, despite knowing she didn’t play competitive soccer, according to the documents.
The applicant’s parents, who are not named in the indictment, sent Singer $1.2 million after their daughter got her admissions letter around Jan. 1, 2018. Singer then sent Meredith $400,000, the complaint states.
Fifty people, including athletic coaches from top schools like Georgetown, UCLA and USC, were also charged in the investigation, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues.
The coaches allegedly raked in thousands of dollars to help get applicants admitted as athletic recruits for sports they didn’t play.
On Monday, 12 defendants, including six former coaches and two test administrators, pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges in Boston federal court.
Among those to plead not guilty was Gordon Ernst — Georgetown’s former head tennis coach and Michelle Obama’s former personal instructor — who is accused of taking more than $2.7 million in bribes to designate 12 applicants as recruits.
UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo, Wake Forest University women’s volleyball coach William Ferguson and USC water polo-coach Jovan Vavic also maintained their innocence.
Stanford’s former sailing coach John Vandemoer has already pleaded guilty. Both Singer and Meredith, who is due back in court Thursday, are cooperating with prosecutors, and Meredith is expected to plead guilty Thursday.
Some of the 33 parents charged in the scheme, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin’s husband, designer Mossimo Gianulli, are scheduled to make an appearance in Boston court April 3.
Loughlin and Gianulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to Singer to get daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose into USC as competitive rowing recruits.
USC said they were still investigating the claims and hadn’t rescinded any admissions.
With Wires