An investor in Championship football club Swansea City is facing a prison sentence in connection with an alleged US college admissions bribery scam believed to be worth $25million.
William 'Rick' Singer pleaded guilty to four charges in federal court in Boston earlier this week in connection with allegations that he used charitable accounts from this company, the Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF), to help wealthy American students fraudulently secure places at some of the country's top universities.
According to an indictment seen by WalesOnline, Singer has agreed to forfeit $3.4million and will give up all assets owned or controlled by KWF, which includes an investment in 'Swansea City FC'.
At a hearing earlier in the week, Singer pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the United States government, and obstruction of justice.
His offences carry a maximum prison term of 65 years and a potential fine of $1.25million, although his agreement states that his sentence will be "within the sole discretion of the Court".
WalesOnline understands that any investment from KWF's holding is minor - and there's no suggestion that the company is in any way connected to Cliff or Michael Singer, who have been previously listed as two of the 27 major shareholders at the club.
In a statement, Swansea City said: "As is club policy, we don’t comment on inquiries regarding potential limited partners that, whether or not a limited investor, have no rights or involvement in the decision making or operations of the club."
The Swansea City Supporters' Trust, which owns a 21.1 per cent holding in the club, declined to comment, but has confirmed to WalesOnline that it is aware of the news.
Singer's prosecution has become front page news in the United States, with the US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Andrew Lelling, declaring it the largest such scam in American legal history.
A total of 50 people have been charged as part of the investigation, code-named 'Operation Varsity Blues', including nine athletic coaches and 33 parents.
Lelling described the parents involved as a "catalog of wealth and privilege," including CEOs, a fashion designer, the co-chairman of a global law firm, and even Hollywood stars, with Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman and fellow actress Lori Loughlin among those charged.
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Prosecutors claim Singer helped students cheat their way past ACT and SAT tests by bribing test administrators at certain universities, with parents allegedly paying fees between $15,000 and $75,000 per test.
Those payments were then disguised as charity payments to the KWF, the charitable arm of a company known as The Key, which claimed to offer "one-on-one support for students" from wealthy backgrounds navigate their way through the university admissions process.
Prosecutors claim Singer used funds from the KWF's charitable accounts to bribe sports coaches at various colleges into admitting certain students, despite their lack of sporting prowess.
In one case back in 2016, Singer allegedly directed $350,000 to a private soccer club controlled by two coaches at the University of Southern California.
In return for that payment, the coaches then designated the children of four of Singer's clients as recruits for the university's soccer team, despite none of them having played competitively.
To keep up the charade, prosecutors claim Singer even helped wealthy parents doctor photos of their children playing sports.
“In many instances, Singer helped parents take staged photographs of their children engaged in particular sports,” Lelling added.
“Other times, he used stock photos, sometimes Photoshopping the face of the child on the athlete, and submitting it,” he added.
Speaking at a hearing at a Boston Federal court on Tuesday, Singer admitted that the allegations against him were true.
As part of his guilty plea, Singer said: “If I can make the comparison, there is a front door of getting in, where a student just does it on their own.
“There’s a back door, where people go to institutional advancement and make large donations, but they’re not guaranteed in. And then I created a side door that guaranteed families to get in. So that was what made it very attractive to so many families, is I created a guarantee."
Lelling said Singer's actions had cost more deserving students a place at university.
"This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud."
"There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I'll add that there will not be a separate criminal justice system either."
He added, "For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected."
Singer is to be sentenced on June 19.
