USC Soccer Coach Pleads Guilty In Admission Scandal

LOS ANGELES, CA — A former USC women's soccer head coach has agreed to plead guilty to a federal conspiracy charge stemming from the nationwide college-admissions cheating scandal, prosecutors announced Monday.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, Ali Khosroshahin, 49, of Fountain Valley, will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. In exchange, prosecutors will recommend a sentence on the low end of federal sentencing guidelines -- about four years in prison or less.

Khosroshahin, who was USC's women's soccer head coach from 2007-13, was one of dozens of people ensnared in the admissions scandal, in which wealthy parents paid Newport Beach businessman William Rick Singer, 58, hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure their children's admission to elite universities. Singer would bribe college officials and sports coaches to have students admitted to universities as athletic recruits, even if the students had never participated in the sport.

In other cases, students' answers would be corrected on college- entrance exams by bribed test proctors, or the tests would be taken by different people altogether, federal prosecutors said.

According to court papers, Khosroshahin and his assistant coach, Laura Janke, were paid about $350,000, and in return, they "designated four children of Singer's clients as recruits for the USC women's soccer team, despite the fact that none of those children played competitive soccer."

Janke has already pleaded guilty. She and Khosroshahin both agreed to cooperate with investigators. According to the Los Angeles Times, Khosroshahin agreed in his plea deal to forfeit $208,990, an amount "equal to the amount of proceeds" he collected in the scheme.

Singer pleaded guilty in March to charges including racketeering conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

City News Service