A father who agreed to plead guilty in December to wire fraud and honest services wire fraud after paying to bribe a test administrator to help his son cheat on the ACT was sentenced to prison in federal court on Wednesday in Boston, according to CBS Boston affiliate WBZ-TV.
I-Hsin "Joey" Chen, 67, of Newport Beach, California was sentenced to nine weeks in prison, one year of supervised release, 100 hours of community service, and was ordered to pay a $75,000 fine.
Chen is the 35th parent to be sentenced in the 'Operation Varsity Blues' college admissions scandal, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts.
"Chen conspired with William 'Rick' Singer and others to defraud ACT, Inc. by agreeing to cheat on his son's ACT exam," a release from the Department of Justice said.
"Specifically, in early 2018, after hiring Singer as a college counselor for his son and agreeing to the testing scheme, Chen got approval for his son to receive multiple day testing accommodations through his son’s high school counselor."
Chen then got his son's testing location to be moved, and had the test administrator allow a test proctor "to secretly correct his son's ACT exam answers to obtain a fraudulently inflated score."
Chen covered up the $75,000 payment to Singer by pretending it was a business consulting fee paid between the two men's companies.
Mark Riddell, the test proctor, was sentenced to four months in prison and two years of supervised release on April 8. He also had to pay a $1,000 fine and forfeit $239,449 for his role in the scandal.
Singer and Igor Dvorskiy, the test administrator, have already entered guilty pleas and are waiting sentencing.
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