Not only did he fabricate the credentials of college applicants — he faked his own, too.
College admissions guru William “Rick” Singer was a con man so brazen that he lied under oath about serving on admissions committees at a handful of schools, according to a new report.
The sworn testimony came in 2016, when Singer was tapped as a $300-an-hour expert by a private high school in its defense of a lawsuit filed by a former student, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The student, an African American graduate, and her parents sued Sidwell Friends School, saying she hadn’t gotten into Harvard, Yale, Columbia and other universities and blaming high school officials for sabotaging her dreams of higher education.
Singer claimed he worked closely with schools like UCLA and the University of Miami to determine which students to admit but on a volunteer basis.
During the six-hour deposition in Washington, DC, the student’s family attorney Richard Baker grilled Singer, asking if he had “ever been part of a college admissions committee … designated by a college or university to make admissions decisions or recommendations?”
Singer answered, “Yes, sir. Chapman University; the University of California, Davis; University of California, L.A.; University of Miami; Dillard University,” according to a transcript of the deposition obtained by the Times.
The college admissions scam mastermind claimed that at UCLA, his job was to “score the applicant” after reviewing their application, transcripts and personal essays. He had a similar role at Davis, he said.
Parts of his testimony, however, were vague.
At one point, Baker asked Singer when he’d worked for Chapman, but Singer could only muster, “several years ago.”
“Do you have a problem with your memory?” Baker asked.
“There are certain things I want to remember, and certain things I don’t,” Singer said.
All of the schools Singer claimed to have worked with said he was never part of their admissions processes. At Dillard, former president Dr. Marvalene Hughes said an ex-colleague told her that Singer had been hired as a consultant, but it was unclear for what.
The family eventually lost their lawsuit against Sidwell and also lost on appeal.
Baker declined to comment when told that the universities denied Singer’s claims.
Singer’s dodgy testimony came as he was fudging SAT and ACT scores and doctoring prospective students’ applications to smuggle them into schools like Georgetown, Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California. He admitted to pocketing bribes from wealthy parents in exchange.
Singer pleaded guilty for his role as the sweeping scam’s mastermind in March. More than 30 parents, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, and 10 coaches were also arrested.
Singer’s lawyer, Donald Heller, told the Times, “Over the years, Rick provided services to different universities as a volunteer in viewing applications.”