Former UCLA coach gets 8 months in prison for taking bribes to recruit Chinese students

TV celebrities, rich pay former UCLA coaches to pay bribes to coaches and admissions officers at prestigious schools in exchange for enrolling their children

Pictured is the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Jorge Salcedo, the former University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) men’s soccer coach accused of taking bribes, was sentenced March 19 by a Massachusetts federal judge to eight months in prison and $200,000 in forfeitures. Salcedo had accepted bribes to help two students get into the prestigious school, one of whom was a Chinese student. He pleaded guilty in January to one count of conspiracy to commit “federal program bribery.

Salcedo pleaded guilty to involvement in a U.S. college admissions scandal that erupted in 2019: The scandal was masterminded by college counselor William Rick Singer, who was paid by TV personalities and wealthy individuals from across the country to bribe coaches and admissions staff at prestigious schools in exchange for enrolling their children. The scandal involved schools including prestigious schools such as LAUSD and USC.

In 2018, Salcedo made a deal with Singh and former USC head women’s soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin to enroll the son of one of Singh’s Chinese-American clients, Xiaoning Sui, as an “athlete” at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), even though Sui’s son was not a soccer player. ), even though Sui’s son was not a soccer player.

In his recruiting documents, Salcedo falsely claimed to have seen Sui’s son play in China and planned to offer him a 25 percent scholarship. In exchange, he took a $100,000 bribe from Singh. Sui was also convicted on May 18, 2020, of “bribery in a federal program,” and the judge sentenced her to Time served in custody, plus a $250,000 fine and forfeiture of the $400,000 she paid in bribes. The case revealed that she first paid $100,000 (to a coach) into a bank account of the Global Foundation (KWF), a bogus charity, to get her son into a prestigious U.S. school, and then paid another $300,000 (to an admissions counselor) into the KWF account in 2019 after her son was accepted.

Salcedo is the sixth coach to plead guilty in the case. He also admitted the daughter of Bruce and Davina of California under a false identity as a soccer player, also taking $100,000 in bribes. In total, he received $200,000 in bribes, all of which were forfeited after his sentencing.