World News for Students of English

15-10-2021 15:00

A federal jury in Boston convicted two wealthy fathers in the first US college admissions scandal trial. The charges were for corruptly trying to buy their children’s way into elite universities as fake athletic recruits.

The jury found a former casino businessman and a finance businessman guilty of using fraud and bribery. The two men are among 57 people charged in which wealthy parents worked with an admissions consultant to get places for their children.

One of the fathers supposedly paid 300,000 dollars in 2018 to get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a basketball recruit, while the other man offered 220,000 dollars in 2014 for his son to go to the same university as a water polo recruit. Four years later, he paid one million dollars to try to get his twin daughters into two other universities.

Acting US attorney Nathaniel Mendel said that what the men did was an affront to hardworking students and parents. The verdict proved that even these defendants, powerful and privileged people, weren’t above the law.

Difficult words: convict (to say that someone is guilty according to law), affront (an action that offends or upsets someone), defendant (an individual or company that’s sued or accused in a court of law).

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