Former USC administrator sentenced to prison in admissions scandal

A former administrator at the University of Southern California has been sentenced to serve six months in prison for accepting bribes in connection with the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Donna Heinel, 61, former associate athletic director at USC, pleaded guilty in 2021 to honest services wire fraud in the scheme.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston said that Heinel took bribes from William “Rick” Singer and his clients to facilitate their children’s admission to USC as athletic recruits.

“Heinel presented athletic profiles to the USC subcommittee for athletic admissions, presenting the students as legitimate recruits to USC’s athletic teams when in fact they were not,” prosecutors said.

Singer, who orchestrated the scheme, was sentenced earlier this week to 3½ years in prison.

Prosecutors characterized Heinel as “one of the most-prolific and culpable participants” in a conspiracy to get unqualified students accepted to prestigious universities, often by passing them off as talented athletes.

She resigned from USC in 2019 after she was indicted.

In addition to the six-month prison sentence, Judge Indira Talwani ordered Heinel to serve two years of supervised release and pay $160,000 in restitution.

“As the college admissions cases have made clear, it is all too easy for coaches to solicit and accept bribes in exchange for athletic recruitment slots, and it is difficult for universities, and criminal authorities, to detect and prevent such fraud,” a government sentencing memorandum stated.

The “Operation Varsity Blues” probe has resulted in 53 convictions. An estimated two dozen of those deals involved USC.

Though Heinel initially denied wrongdoing, the university fired her when she was indicted in 2019. After investigators gathered evidence of her interactions with Singer, she pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2021.