$25,000 Deposit
Caplan ultimately made a $25,000 “deposit” in the form of a donation to a charitable organization tied to Singer, according to the complaint. Singer then allegedly arranged to have another cooperating witness in the case fly in from Florida on Dec. 8 and provide the correct answers for Caplan’s daughter at an empty testing facility in West Hollywood, California, the U.S. said.
A few weeks later, Caplan paid another $50,000, according to prosecutors. He and his law firm didn’t respond to requests for comment. The government didn’t charge any of the children mentioned in the complaint with crimes.
Douglas Hodge, the former chief executive officer of Pacific Investment Management Co., used what Singer called a “side door” into college: athletic recruiting. Colleges give an edge to those applicants sought after by coaches; often, they will be admitted with lower grades and test scores. The complaint says he paid $475,000 in bribes through the test prep company, its foundation and the USC Women’s Athletic Board.
Phony Photo
But there was a problem: One of his sons seeking admission didn’t actually play the sport. In January 2015, Hodge’s spouse sent an email to Singer. She said she couldn’t find a photo of her son playing football, even though he was applying to play on the University of Southern California team. So she sent one of his brother, according to the court filing. Singer sent one to a USC coaching official: “See below -- I am sure there is a tennis one too. The boys look alike so I thought a football one would help too?”
In addition to the two children who were admitted to USC, Hodge’s eldest daughter gained admission to Georgetown University on a tennis scholarship, but “did not play tennis at Georgetown,” according to the complaint. Pimco declined to comment.
Hodge, who retired in 2017 after 28 years with the firm, declined to comment when reached on his mobile phone, saying, “I can’t talk right now.”
William McGlashan, a managing partner of TPG, the private equity firm, used approaches similar to both Hodge and Caplan, investigators said. He paid $50,000 to a charity with the understanding that his son’s answers on the ACT exam would be improved, according to court documents. McGlashan discussed paying at least $250,000 in the scheme, according to the complaint.
In December 2017, a proctor traveled to Los Angeles from Tampa, Florida to administer the ACT at the test center rather than at the son’s high school, the documents show. The proctor corrected the answers to show a score of 34 out of 36.
Singer also offered to create a fake sports profile of McGlashan’s son to help him gain admission at USC as a recruited athlete.
McGlashan said he had pictures of his son playing lacrosse. But since it was their understanding that USC didn’t have a lacrosse team, they settled on making the student a football player, the government said. But his high school didn’t field a football team, so they decided to turn him into a punter who learned the skills at a sports camp, according to the FBI.