Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters). A doctor from California and his wife pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to rig the college entrance exams of their sons SAT colleges. They paid $25,000 for this scheme.

Gregory Colburn (63), and Amy Colburn (61) were scheduled to stand trial in Boston, Massachusetts in January. They will be joined by another parent in connection with the scandal involving college admissions. The case has attracted celebrities as well as business leaders.

Instead, the Colburns will each plead guilty one to two counts of conspiracy to mail and wirefraud and honest services mail fraud. Each Colburn will be sentenced to eight months in prison with a $12,500 fine under their plea agreements.

According to the court’s plea agreements, the couple can appeal against a judge’s decision not to dismiss their indictment. David Schumacher was not available for comment.

Fifty-seven people have been charged in the “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation, which centers on a scheme in which parents conspired with California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to secure their children’s college admissions fraudulently.

Singer was convicted in 2019 of bribery and cheating on college entrance exams.

50 people, including Felicity Huffman and actress Lori Loughlin, have pleaded guilty. The scandal’s first trial saw two parents convicted of the crime in October.

Prosecutors stated that Singer had paid $25,000 to the Colburns to hire an associate as a test proctor to correct Singer’s answers on their son’s SAT exam.

Mark Riddell from Florida, who was a counselor at private schools, pleaded guilty in Singer’s place to correcting Singer’s answers and taking college entrance tests as an associate.

Singer was accused of bribing Igor Dvorskiy (a corrupt administrator for testing) to let Riddell cheat. Dvorskiy has pleaded guilt.