A woman who bribed her son's way into University of Southern California as part of the notorious "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal, was fined and sentenced to six weeks in prison on Thursday.
Marci Palatella, 66, of Hillsborough California, is the CEO of a liquor distribution company. She paid William "Rick" Singer, the infamous leader of the college admission scheme, $75,000 to help doctor her son's SAT scores.
Palatella also had agreed to pay $500,000 to have her son admitted as a football player for the university despite not actually having been recruited and not actually planning on being on the team.
Palatella pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud on Aug. 26.
Along with six weeks jail time, U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced Palatella to two years of supervised release with the first six months in home confinement.
She will also have to serve 500 hours hours of community service and pay a $250,000 fine.
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