Donna Heinel, left, former senior associate athletic director at USC for her arraignment at Boston Federal Court on March 25, 2019, in Boston. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)Donna Heinel, a former athletics department official at USC, pleaded guilty on Friday in the college admissions bribery scandal, admitting she helped get students into the school by passing them off as elite athletes. As part of the plea deal she made with prosecutors, Heinel will forfeit nearly $300,000 she received as part of the admission scam, court records show. Prosecutors portrayed Heinel, 60, as playing a crucial role in Singer’s operation. As a liaison between USC’s admissions office and the school’s vaunted athletics department, she was accused of hoodwinking admissions officials about children of Singer’s clients by presenting them as top-level athletes the school’s coaches wanted on their teams.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 06, 2021 09:07 UTC