When asked at a court appearance for Greg Abbott how much time he could face, the prosecutor told the judge 12 to 24 months. Abbott’s lawyer Jennifer Willis said zero to six months.

Willis didn’t return a voicemail or email message seeking comment.

“While the alleged conduct of the individual defendant parents varies, the ultimate question is, does this really rise to the level of being criminal?” Ferrone said. “Some of the parents may attempt to defend against the charges by saying they paid Mr. Singer for a service and were not aware of the full extent of the fraud.” Juries can be “receptive to claims of overcriminalization,” she said.

If a case does go to trial, defense lawyers are likely to attack Singer.

“He was at the center of the alleged scheme, and if the government is in the business of shutting down criminality, haven’t they done so?” Ferrone said. “Going after the parents may be a bridge too far.”

Prosecutors typically try to “flip” underlings, getting them to cooperate up the line, against superiors. In this case, they let Singer “cooperate down” against the parents, who may want to assail his motives and even argue he incited them to unwittingly commit new crimes, according to Steven Boozang, a criminal defense attorney in Boston.

“This guy made all this money. Instead of taking his medicine, he ran from the table and said, ‘How can I jam everybody else up?’” said Boozang, who has represented clients in organized-crime cases.

Still, the scandal has provoked outrage on social media and editorial pages across the country, and going to trial could take reputations and careers already badly damaged by the high-profile bust and ruin them.

Among those experiencing fallout are Gordon Caplan, accused of paying $75,000 to boost his daughter’s college board scores and now on leave from his post as co-chairman of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, and Bill McGlashan, who led TPG’s business focused on social good and founded its growth-investing platform. The private equity firm said on Thursday it had fired him.

Patrick Smith, a lawyer for Caplan, didn’t return voicemail or email messages seeking comment. McGlashan’s lawyer couldn’t immediately be identified.