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BOSTON, July 1 (Reuters) – An associate professor of dentistry at the University of Southern California has agreed to plead guilty to a tax crime stemming from his role in a US college admissions scandal, prosecutors said on Thursday .
Federal prosecutors in Boston previously accused 59-year-old Homayoun Zadeh of using bribes as a fake lacrosse recruit to agree to pay $100,000 to secure his daughter’s admission to the university.
He agreed to plead guilty to filing a false tax return after deducting $100,000 in payments to a foundation central to the system on his 2017 tax return. Prosecutors said the donations to charity were not legitimate.
The foundation, Key Worldwide Foundation, was led by the program’s initiator, California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer, who prosecutors say used fraud and bribery to help wealthy parents secure their children’s college admissions. Continue reading
Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss the other charges against Zadeh, who faces a possible six-week prison sentence, a $20,000 fine and 250 hours of community service under a plea agreement. A date for his plea has not yet been set.
Zadeh’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zadeh is among 57 people charged in the scandal. Singer pleaded guilty in March 2019 to facilitating college entrance exam fraud and using bribery to secure student admissions to colleges as fake athletic recruits.
Thirty other wealthy parents have already pleaded guilty, including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman, who received a 14-day prison sentence, and Full House star Lori Loughlin, who was sentenced to two months in prison.
Charges are still pending against several other parents, with the first trial in this case scheduled for September. Zadeh was one of the five parents who were to be put on trial at the time.
Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Edited by Grant McCool
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