Two Iranian Americans Indicted in Massive College Admission Fraud Scheme
Independent Aggregator of iran-related News/Events, Kodoom.com: US Federal officials have charged dozens of well-heeled parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, as well as academic and sports officials such as former University of Southern California (USC) women’s soccer coach (Iranian-American) Ali Khosroshahin in what the Justice Department says was a multimillion-dollar scheme to cheat college admissions standards.
Khosroshahin, who was fired in 2013, and his former assistant coach, Laura Janke were named in the indictment for allegedly fabricating athlete profiles for the prospective students and receiving payments totaling nearly $350,000 sent to their private soccer club.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday indicted dozens of people — including UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo and actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin — in connection with an elaborate scheme aimed at getting students into elite colleges. The parents allegedly paid a consultant who then fabricated academic and athletic credentials and arranged bribes to help get their children into prestigious universities.
"We're talking about deception and fraud — fake test scores, fake credentials, fake photographs, bribed college officials," Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said at a news conference Tuesday in Boston.
A native of Iran, Khosroshahin says when he moved to Logan, Utah, at age six, he knew two phrases in English: "hello” and “shut up."
“You aren’t going to make any friends saying just ‘hello’ and ‘shut up’ to people,” Khosroshahin said with a laugh. “And I needed to make some friends. Soccer was the thing that allowed me to be accepted.”
Ali Khosroshahin was the first coach in NCAA history to lead his team to the NCAA championship in his first season with his program. In 2007, Khosroshahin, named the Soccer America Women's Coach of the Year, credited his success on the values of discipline and hard work he learned growing up in his Iranian immigrant family.
Khosroshahin also coached at the international level as an assistant coach with Mexico during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. He was on the staff of Mexico’s U19 Women’s National Program in 2004 and the U20 squad in 2005.
Homayoun Zadeh, 57, of Calabasas, California, an associate professor of dentistry, is another Iranian American name is seen among list of defendants who were charged in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
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