The daughter of a billionaire pharmaceutical tycoon was identified Thursday as the young woman whose family paid $6.5 million just to get her into Stanford University.
Yusi Zhao — also known as Molly — is the daughter of Tao Zhao, the co-founder of pharmaceutical company Shandong Buchang, according to the Stanford Daily.
Zhao’s mom and dad in Beijing have not been charged in the sweeping college admissions cheating scandal that led to the arrests of 33 wealthy parents, including celebrities Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
They were introduced to the scheme’s mastermind, William “Rick” Singer, through the manager of a Morgan Stanley ranch in Los Angeles, sources told the LA Times.
Singer presented Zhao as a competitive sailor — even though there’s no evidence she ever participated in the sport, the paper reported. She was admitted to the prestigious school in spring 2017 and was majoring in East Asian studies.
Prosecutors mentioned the eye-popping figure when charging Singer in March — as most parents paid vastly less for his services — but have never identified who was behind it.
Stanford’s former sailing coach John Vandemoer has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy for taking bribes to accept two of Singer’s clients as sham athletic recruits in the summers of 2017 and 2018 — but the college says neither of those students ultimately enrolled.
During the coach’s March 12 hearing, prosecutors also mentioned another student who mSinger brought to Vandemoer in 2017 as another potential bogus recruit.
The coach didn’t actually help her “in any material way,” but she was accepted in part because she falsely claimed to have sailing credentials in her application — and Singer then gave $500,000 to Stanford’s sailing program, prosecutors said.
Stanford said in a statement Wednesday that it had expelled the student linked to the $500,000 payment for false information on her application — but it refused to confirm or deny if it was Zhao, citing privacy laws.
But Zhao moved out of her campus housing in late March and her profile is no longer in the college’s online directory, according to the Stanford Daily.
Her parents aren’t the only Chinese family accused of paying huge amounts to Singer — the family of ousted Yale student Sherry Guo allegedly paid him $1.2 million to get her into the school as a soccer recruit, according to the Wall Street Journal.