Part 143: The USC “Moonwalk” – Operation Varsity Blues and the VIP Program

Published December 16, 2024.

Dec 17, 2024

Photo of William "Rick" Singer leaving the federal courthouse after facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme in Boston, March 12, 2019. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist

Oops! I forgot a scandal, Operation Varsity Blues, the college admissions scandal. Ahh yes, everyone’s favorite, mostly because it involved the rich and famous, and at least, if some are to be believed, was a victimless crime. Fresh from the Los Angeles Times, it’s “scapegoat” Donna Heinel, complete with prison notebooks. Heinel, who spent a solid 6 months in prison in Federal Correctional Institution, Victorville, apparently hasn’t even come around to really admitting she did anything wrong. In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times dynamic duo of journalists, Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton, the former Senior Associate Athletics Director at the esteemed University of Southern California (USC) says, “I did my job description, and nowhere in time did I think this was nefarious.” Apparently, this included running a “a consulting outfit… ran on the side.” In conducting this side business, she just happened to collect $160,000 from scheme mastermind Rick Singer, who was “purchasing” her services. Heinel had to forfeit the funds.

The fun part of this story has been and remains not that celebrities like actress Lori Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on Full House, but rather that the institution itself was corrupted. You see, as the press release on her sentencing from the U.S. Attorney’s Office notes about the now 63-year-old Heinel, “In total, the subcommittee on athletic admissions approved the admission of approximately two dozen applicants Heinel presented as purported recruits.” This group was convened not just under former Athletic Director Pat Haden, Dean of Admissions Timothy Brunold (who still works at USC), and retired Vice President of Admissions and Enrollment, but ultimately under the Office of the Provost (whom I worked for). Harrington, named for only the second time in relation to the scandal, still teaches at USC in the Marshall School of Business. As former Athletic Director Lynn Swann told the Times in 2019, after getting an early morning call from USC’s head of the Office of Professionalism and Ethics, the first thing he did was contact Harrington, who in turn reported at the time directly to then Provost Michael Quick.

Try as they may have, and you know how athletic departments can be, and as Swann erroneously told the Times in 2019, the USC Athletics Department never operated in a total silo of pure unsupervised freedom. Most especially in regards to admissions, for which the university and not just the department or administrative unit are responsible. Indeed, it’s the really Provost’s Office that has the duty to review the operations of such units, plus or minus the then Office of Compliance. Traces of this activity can still be found online. USC did an administrative shuffle after the scandal, increasing review layers for admissions directly, but the Provost’s Office had a periodic review known as the “Provost’s Oversight Committee on Athletic Academic Affairs.” You can still find this referenced in the biography of Vice Provost for Academic Operations, Dr. Mark Todd (my old boss). USC President Wanda Austin at the time claimed that USC was a “victim and that these employees purposefully deceived USC” on the arrangement.

Like Donna Heinel, I never quite bought this story. Heinel now says that she was introduced to Rick Singer, who’s somehow back in the admission’s consulting business already in a halfway house after having done a meager 3.5 years for his nationwide crimes. I had seen Rick Singer before, he was waiting for Pat Haden in the hallway of the Bovard Administration Building, and Haden was coming out of a meeting with then USC President Max Nikias. Haden looked mildly annoyed with Singer for being there and trotted off with his briefcase and Singer in tow. At the time, Haden was in some trouble for having milked a foundation for money. As Heinel tells the Los Angeles Times, Haden “summoned her to his office in Heritage Hall to meet with Singer,” telling her, “He has good families that may or may not have kids that are student-athletes.”

My first question upon reading the indictment in one sitting was how Haden hadn’t been indicted. After all, he was the one who supervised Heinel, and for such scheming to occur under his nose like that seemed preposterous. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which raided Heinel’s home at gunpoint, also flipped Rick Singer into snaring parents of unqualified students who had paid sizable sums for their golden tickets. The FBI couldn’t seem to find the dirt on Haden, though, who denied all culpability and, through his lawyer, continues to deny it to this day. Prosecutors had asked for 6 years for Singer; really, they should have asked for 12 and should have used him to not just go after the parents, but USC administrators too without mercy. USC wasn’t the only university caught in the scandal; however, it was the epicenter, with multiple employees, including Heinel, acting in furtherance of the scheme, which is truly organized crime. Without explaining how they managed this, the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement on Laura Janke, an assistant women’s soccer coach who helped create fake profiles, got away with no prison time at all in contrast to Heinel, which were sent to other universities.

The Times duo of Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton has been on a warpath lately digging into USC’s so-called “VIP” admissions program, by which senior leaders could place students even without phony sports credentials on the list for special admissions as walk-on athletes. It’s like they’re looking for proof USC is corrupt right up to the Board of Trustee’s, and they’re not totally wrong. USC, which now admits less than 10% of undergraduate applicants, has as Heinel notes an entire pay-to-play infrastructure, and those who play get favors. The Times pair writes, “Heinel said she did not see herself as going rogue, but as joining an established fundraising apparatus.” The finger here is ultimately pointed at USC Advancement, which reported directly to the President’s Office with a sideline to the Provost’s Office. I can assure you that had I asked to run a sidedoor into admissions in which I collected $160,000, USC Human Resources and my supervisor would have declined the request. The Times names Katherine Harrington again for the first time since 2019, but they don’t seemingly ask her for a comment or an interview.

They should! One week before the Feds kicked in the door on Varisty Blues, I had found myself alone with Katherine Harrington in my office in the administration building. I was upset, likely over working conditions during which I found myself repeatedly being yelled at and threatened for asking too many questions. I told Harrington that I thought the next scandal was going to be the admissions scandal because USC was getting so selective. She told me that putting up with poor working conditions was the “price of admission.” I wasn’t sure exactly what she meant, so I said nothing. My supervisor was at the center of the Mark Ridley-Thomas bribery scandal. We had gone through Geoge Tyndall and Carmen Puliafito. My patience was wearing thin for just going along with business as usual at USC. There are few rewards at the place for not being corrupt. Now I literally have a termination letter complete with false pretext that blames me for apparently talking too much about the graduate degree in administration that I earned too much.

The Times story notes Donna Heinel praising Dean of Admissions Timothy Brunold and Vice President Katherine Harrington at her sentencing hearing. The original criminal complaint in the matter doesn’t name them, even as the Times notes that parent Devin Sloane was represented by new District Attorney Nathan Hochman before getting sentenced to 4 months in prison. In the complaint for Sloane, the FBI writes that Heinel communicated about his son with an unnamed “USC Director of Admissions.” About the Subcommittee on Athletics Admissions, the complaint quotes the individuals email in regards to what seems to be admission to a particular school at USC, which requires a separate, additional review for admissions: “They seemed unusually skeptical.” USC Annenberg Media student journalists in 2019 sought to unravel the mystery, writing that “According to the Office of Admission on USC’s public directory, Kirk Brennan holds the position of Director of Admission.” They further probed this matter, writing USC Vice President for Admission and Planning Katharine Harrington said in a statement, speaking on behalf of Brennan, in March that she cannot confirm or reveal the identity of USC director of admissions due to ongoing investigations.” Devin Sloane was the first parent sentenced.

Kirk Brennan still works for USC as an Associate Dean, Undergraduate Admissions. The email notes him checking out Sloane’s son, who Heinel was pushing for phony admission, before the complaint notes Sloane saying to "CW-1," Rick Singer, that USC Advancement had sent him “a letter from [USC’s senior vice president for university advancement] himself” before an “underling” calls him. USC’s Senior Vice President for Advancement here is Al Checcio, who reported directly to USC President Max Nikias. In his defense, Haden claimed that Singer pursued him, but if that’s the case, how did Singer know to be waiting outside of Nikias’s office for Haden to exit? Singer sneered at me that day in a way that I’ll never forget. If Haden wanted nothing to do with Singer, why did he have a meeting with him “over coffee at the Los Angeles Country Club,” as noted by Times journalist Joel Rubin in 2019? “Haden tells the Times that he only met Singer once.” Rubin writes, “Haden has no recollection of meeting Singer at the country club or a subsequent meeting because they were brief encounters among thousands of meetings and events Haden attended during his time as USC’s athletic director.” Really?

Haden doesn’t make it into the FBI’s criminal complaint or indictments. Now here’s where it gets really fun! According to the 2019 report by Joel Rubin, the initial introduction of Haden to Singer is facilitated by two key figures via email: Chuck Kenworthy and John McKay, known as J.K. McKay, the latter of whom was directly employed as an Associate Athletic Director to Haden. Kenworthy is an attorney, and J.K. McKay was the son of legendary USC Athletic Director John McKay. Kenworthy had met Singer somehow and had hired him to work with his daughter, claiming to Rubin 2019: “I only ever saw the legitimate side of him. He used me to get to my friends. That is embarrassing and it makes me really angry. He knew exactly what he was doing.” Kenworthy now works for Los Angeles Times owner Patrick-Soon Shiong at Nantworks as Executive Vice President-Corporate Strategy. The story boils down to McKay and Kenworthy seeing Soon-Shiong as a potential donor to USC Athletics as part of its renovation of the Coliseum. Patrick Soon-Shiong was already a donor to the school, having endowed the chair of its biomedical engineering department. This meeting isn’t discussed in the criminal complaint.

Nor is a second meeting between Singer and Haden, this time in Haden’s office in Heritage Hall. According to Rubin’s report, Singer pushed for the admission of a female student from Texas, with Haden emailing Heinel afterwards, asking if Rick Singer was “in good graces” with USC President Max Nikias and if he was “as an asset to the university?” Haden doesn’t know. The two tango over another student of Singer’s she pitched as a football player, and according to Rubin’s report, "The copy of Heinel’s email reviewed by The Times was partly redacted.” So no, don’t cry for Donna Heinel, but just how far up the USC leadership tree did this really go? USC didn’t want to answer questions from Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton on if she was being “scapegoated.” I’m absolutely positive they don’t want to talk to me, but I’m happy to add the Bovard hallway meeting to the list of known encounters between Pat Haden and Rick Singer.

But wait, there’s a third meeting, the one where Haden introduced Singer to Heinel and reportedly writes that Singer has a “red flag” and “I am being careful with him.” The statute of limitations to charge Haden with conspiracy much less bribery has already lapsed, as all these dates are beyond five years, but as at least one parent attempts to litigate against USC claiming that this was business as usual, there are still legal implications. USC is being sued for “fraud” by business executive John Wilson, who got his conviction overturned, and is also suing Netflix for defamation over its 2021 documentary “Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal,” narrated by actor Matthew Modine. Not to mention further potential impacts on USC’s donation from the negative publicity. For his part, Soon-Shiong shoots down Kenworthy in proposing the Coliseum suite donation. A long-time donor to the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, including having served on its Board of Councillors since at least 2009, whether the Los Angeles Times increasingly bold reporting by Ryan and Hamilton on USC begs the question of whether they’ll go the distance and really turn over the proverbial apple cart.

According to their most recent report, “Haden’s attorney said he had no interest in speaking to a woman he felt had deceived him and the institution he loved.” Sadly, I don’t think that’s where the deception ends here because the idea that all this went on with absolutely no approval from top-level executives is pretty laughable. Then USC interim President Wanda Austin, who followed Max Nikias after he resigned over the George Tyndall scandal, wrote in her March 12, 2019 letter, “It is immensely disappointing that individuals would abuse their position at the university in this way.” Months before Austin had met with District Attorney Jackie Lacey on January 7, 2019 in the same office occupied by Nikias, calling it “productive.” It’s not known what exactly they discussed, but it’s believed to be in relation to the George Tyndall scandal.

The disgraced gynecologist would die at home, awaiting a criminal trial after more than five years. Austin, who had taken the position while serving on USC’s Board of Trustees, enjoyed the backing of Chairman Rick Caruso, who never said much about the Operation Varsity Blues scandal and told Annenberg Media in 2019 in an interview about hiring the current President Carol Folt: “I really thought we were past the worst. We past Tyndall [sic], we did the investigation, we were wrapping things up.” Caruso’s “independent” investigation into Tyndall conducted by attorney’s from the firm O’Melveny & Myers remains held in secrecy to this day; how convenient.

All four of Rick Caruso’s children attended USC—a fact that has raised the consternation of many. Were any of those on the “VIP” list? If they were, the Los Angeles Times hasn’t disclosed that yet, even as it brought Rick Caruso into the picture on October 22, using an old quote from him saying “I’m shocked” and including a picture of him sitting in “The Grove” from 2023. CNN at least seems to think that the billionaire is a viable candidate for Governor of California in a piece about Vice President Kamala Harris running for Governor of California, suggesting Caruso could “self-fund a yearlong run against Harris from the center.” It seems CNN missed the news!

The scandal hit close to home for Caruso when news came out that his daughter Gianna was on Caruso’s yacht in the Bahamas with Olivia Jade Giannuli, the daughter of actress Lori Laughlin. A billionaire real estate and shopping magnate, Caruso should undoubtedly be asked about the pay-to-play environment at USC, and in more than just vague generalities. The “VIP” system, as noted by Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton, allowed “the president, the provost, deans and trustees... [to] designate an applicant as a VIP. The program seemingly ran from 2008 to 2018. When asked for records related to it previously in court, including names in a Varisty Blues case, USC blacked out “24 out of 26 columns.” Rick Caruso has served on USC’s Board of Trustees since 2007. The school’s Board of Trustees is currently led by Chairwoman Suzanne Nora Johnston, a former Goldman Sachs executive and USC President Carol Folt, who has announced her retirement at the end of next June. Donna Heinel’s sister says about the matter, "It was like everybody did a little moonwalk back and just shut the door.” Perhaps there should be a senior leadership moonwalking competition in Alumni Park very soon.

Link: She went to prison in Varsity Blues admissions scandal. Now she says she was a scapegoat

Link: Former Senior Athletic Department Administrator at the University of Southern California Sentenced to Six Months in Prison in College Admissions Case

Link: Lynn Swann says USC was ‘blindsided’ by alleged actions of administrator in college admissions scandal

Link: USC introduces new measures to its student-athlete admissions process

Link: Interim President Wanda M. Austin regarding college admissions investigation

Link: L.A. education foundation became a lucrative source of income for USC’s Pat Haden and his relatives

Link: Investigations of College Admissions and Testing Bribery Scheme

Link: READ: The full indictment charging actors, CEOs and others in a nationwide college admission scheme

Link: Former Women's Soccer Coach at the University of Southern California Sentenced in College Admissions Case

Link: How Rick Singer tried to rope in USC legend Pat Haden amid admissions scandal

Link: USC accused of fraud by ‘Varsity Blues’ parent whose conviction was overturned

Link: Wanda Austin Tweet RE: Jackie Lacey Meeting