Rick Singer’s net worth is $25 million. He is a former American college coach, recruiter, and counsellor who made his fortune by running an elaborate fraudulent scheme in which he helped wealthy parents get their wards into Ivy League institutions.
These admissions were often secured through dishonest means, such as bribery, and Singer charged anything from $5,000 to $75,000 for his services. His clientele included wealthy business executives and even Hollywood stars. Rick Singer was able to amass a net worth of $25 million and lived a lavish lifestyle.
His empire, however, came crumbling after the authorities were tipped off in 2018. He was charged with multiple felony charges in 2019. However, he has avoided jail time to date as he is still assisting the authorities in convicting other persons that were part of his fraudulent set-up.
Tracing How Rick Singer’s Net Worth Accrued
Rick Singer Began His Career as a College Sports Coach in the 80s
Rick Singer is a native of California and was born in 1960. As a young man, he was athletically inclined. He played everything from basketball to baseball and football. He also lettered in baseball and basketball at college.
Rick Singer graduated college in his 20s and kick-started his career as a basketball coach at Sierra College, Sacramento, California. His salary at the time is not available, but it is postulated that college coaches can earn anything from $12,500 to $78,500 per annum. It is most likely that Singer earned something in the mid-range, i.e., around $30k.
He Then Started a Side Business as a College Counsellor and Recruiter in the 90s
Working as a college coach gave Rick Singer a first-hand experience of college admission. He, therefore, decided to start a side business of helping students gain athletic scholarships to top colleges.
He was pretty good at it and thus set up a company known as Future Stars. The company provided college counseling for prospective students, and he operated it for a while. He later sold it off and went to work as a manager for several call centers.
Rick Singer Set Up his College Counselling Company Known as College Source LLC in 2002
After working as a call center manager for a while, Rick Singer decided to return to his forte, college counseling services. He set up another company known as College Source LLC in 2002 and continued helping students with their college application processes.
Rick Singer ran College Source LLC for five years and sold it in 2007. He has claimed that he sold the company for $100 million, but this is doubtful. There is, however, no disputing the fact that he made good money from that company that probably ran into millions of dollars.
He Then Established another College Counselling Services Company, The Key, in 2007
Upon selling off College Source LLC in 2007, Rick Singer used the proceeds to set up another college counseling company known as Edge College and Career Network, a.k.a The Key. The company also focuses on helping parents and students scale the hurdle of the admission of processes and get into their dream colleges.
Rick Singer employed several people to work for him in his new company, and they achieved tangible results. As a result, his fame spread far and wide. He attracted well-known clients, including Hollywood stars and wealthy business executives. He helped numerous students get into colleges, including Georgetown University, Stanford, Yale, and the University of California at Los Angeles.
In the early days of his company, Rick Singer charged from $500 to $4500 for college counseling services. However, as his fame grew, his fees increased to tens of thousands of dollars. A court filing showed that he earned $366,000 per annum in 2011.
Rick Singer Penned Two Self-Help Books on How to Scale the College Admission Process
Rick Singer utilized his experience as a college counselor to pen two self-help books on the topic. The first was Getting In: Gaining Admission into Your College of Choice (2014). The second was Getting in Personal Brands: A Personal Brand is Essential to Gaining Admission into the College of Your Choice (2014). Both books were motivational in nature, and he co-wrote them with a ghostwriter.
It is unknown how much Rick Singer made from his books, but it also contributed to his wealth. He was able to amass a net worth running into $25 million and lived accordingly. He and his wife bought several houses, including a $700,000 house in Sacramento and a $600,000 villa in Hawaii. When they divorced, he set up an $80,000 college fund for his son.
He equally purchased a 5-bed room house worth $1.55 million in New Port Beach. Rick Singer joined hands with his half-brother, Cliff, to make several lucrative investments. They invested in a Los Angeles restaurant chain and started their venture. They also bought a stake in a Welsh soccer club known as Swansea.
Rick Singer’s Activities Led to the Varsity Blues Scandal of 2019
It must be pointed out that when Rick Singer first began his college counseling companies, it was all legit. He worked hard to get his athletes into shape so that they would qualify for athletic scholarships on merit. Things, however, turned murky down the line.
By 2008, he had given a series of bribes to a Georgetown tennis coach named Gordon Ernst to help children with little or no tennis history to gain a place on the school’s team and get admission. From that moment on, Rick Singer fine-tuned a fraudulent but lucrative scheme. He deliberately courted hedge fund managers, wealth advisers, and people that worked on the board of expensive private schools.
Through them, he got in touch with wealthy parents that wanted their wards to go to choice schools. These parents paid him thousands of dollars in return for him helping their children get admitted to top colleges. Rick Singer resorted to outrightly fraudulent means to make the admissions a reality. He lied about the athletic achievements of these kids in high school and photo-shopped fake photos to that effect.
He also lied on some of their college application essays. In one instance, a white student from a rich family who had never played tennis was held out as an African-American athlete. Rick Singer also went to the lengths of hiring people to take SAT tests for his client’s children. He also bribed proctors to change the test answers of his client’s children so that they would get higher scores.
It was an efficient system, and Rick Singer landed well-known clientele such as Hollywood star actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman. Huffman paid him $15,000 to procure a person that would write her daughter’s SAT. Lori Laughlin paid him $500,000 to get two of her daughters admitted into the University of Southern California.
Here is the Sacramento man at the center of the largest college entrance exam scandal ever. Rick Singer operated out of Sacramento offices. 50 defendants, including coaches, celebrities, and other parents being charged today. “It appears the schools were not involved.” #ABC7now pic.twitter.com/xxyOOxlq0V
— Dan Noyes (@dannoyes) March 12, 2019
He Was Charged with Multiple Felonies in 2019
The level of success that Rick Singer achieved with his company made him assume an air of invisibility and infallibility. Even though what he was doing was illegitimate, he believed that no one could catch him. He was, therefore, quite cavalier and even pitched his business as a reality TV show.
The California native was simply incorrigible, but reality later caught up with him after the FBI busted him in 2019. The FBI first took notice of Rick Singer in 2011 after a white student with no experience in tennis gained admission as an African-American talent whiz. Their investigations revealed that Rick Singer had acted as a consultant for the family, and they kept tabs on him.
Their investigation eventually matured in 2018 after a business executive named Morrie Tobin confessed during a securities fraud trial that a women’s soccer coach at Yale, Rudolph Meredith, had asked him for $450k to give his daughter admission. The FBI questioned Rudolph Meredith, and he implicated Rick Singer.
The FBI code-named the whole investigation Varsity Blues and apprehended Rick Singer in early 2019. He confessed that he had assisted about 800 students in gaining admission. He also revealed the names of his famed clients. The FBI unearthed several details about Singer, including that he laundered money through his non-profit, Key Foundation World Wide.
It was supposed to be a charitable organization, but most of Singer’s clients used that as an avenue to pay bribes to him and write it off as charity. The revelation of the whole thing created a scandal of big magnitude in America. Many were outraged that wealthy parents were using their money to purchase admissions for kids with trust funds at their disposal and may never use those degrees.
How Much Money Did Rick Singer Make From The Varsity Blues Scandal?
Rick Singer made not less than $25 million from the varsity blues scandal. While this was impressive, he nevertheless faced the consequences of his action. Rick Singer was charged with four felonies: racketeering, money laundering, fraud, and obstruction. These crimes carried a maximum of 65 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines.
This is quite a lengthy jail term, but Rick Singer may not get that many years as he has chosen the smart decision of cooperating with the authorities. He has unveiled the names of several participants in his bribery scheme, including the coaches and the clients. He has also testified in several trials, which have resulted in the conviction of many of them.
To date, Rick Singer has avoided jail time as the authorities concentrate on utilizing him as a valuable witness. This has made him brag to friends that he would never go to jail. Nothing is certain, though. There is every possibility that Rick Singer would end up getting some jail time, no matter how small. It is also possible that he may escape it entirely if the FBI deems him a valuable asset who has been instrumental in securing other people’s convictions.
While Rick Singer has escaped jail term in the interim, some of his clients have not been that lucky. Amongst them are the popular actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman. Lori Laughlin pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and was sentenced to two months imprisonment. Her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, was sentenced to five months. On her part, Felicity Huffman was sentenced to two weeks of imprisonment.
Did Rick Singer Forfeit The Money He Made from The Varsity Blue Scandal?
Some sources have it that Rick Singer agreed to forfeit all the money he made from the varsity blue scandal to the authorities. This doesn’t come as a surprise, given that American laws provide for civil, criminal, and administrative forfeiture of the proceeds of crime.
One of the crimes for which someone can be required to forfeit assets is money laundering which Singer was charged with. There is, therefore, the possibility that he forfeited everything. It is also possible that he may be asked to pay about $1 million or more in fine. This, however, remains a probability, and the final determination will depend on his plea deal with the authorities.
What Is Rick Singer’s Net Worth Currently?
Given that he agreed to forfeit his assets to the authorities as part of his plea deal, it is difficult to estimate Rick Singer’s current net worth. The convicted con-man could be worth pennies now. It is, however, possible that the authorities allowed him to keep some of his monies back. One certain thing is the man at the center of the varsity blues scandal is not hurting for cash.
Reports show that Rick Singer is now living in Sacramento, California, trying to have as normal an existence as possible. He avoids the spotlight but has been spotted driving luxury cars like Porsche. He has also indulged in activities such as paddle boarding, yoga, push-ups, and tennis.
Rick Singer avoids interacting with the media. He also refused to be interviewed for the 2021 Netflix docuseries – Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal. The docuseries chronicles the whole scandal and also sought to paint a portrait of Singer for the whole world to see.
Reports also have it that Rick Singer went back to school. He enrolled at the Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona, for a Ph.D. in psychology in November 2019. He stayed at the school for several months, but recent reports indicate that he may have dropped out as he is no longer an active student on the school’s roster.
Key Facts About Rick Singer’s Net Worth
- What is Rick Singer’s net worth? Rick Singer’s estimated net worth is around $25 million. However, it’s important to note that legal proceedings and penalties associated with his involvement in the “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal may significantly affect his actual net worth.
- How did Rick Singer acquire his wealth? Rick Singer acquired his wealth by running a fraudulent scheme known as “Operation Varsity Blues,” where he helped wealthy parents get their children into elite colleges, often through dishonest means like bribery. He reportedly charged anywhere from $5,000 to $75,000 for his services.
- What was Rick Singer’s profession before the scandal? Rick Singer was a former college counsellor, recruiter, and coach. He also authored self-help books. He started his career as a basketball coach at MacArthur High School, later transitioning into a college admission role.
- How did the scandal affect Rick Singer’s net worth? Following the scandal, Rick Singer was fined $1.25 million and ordered to forfeit $10 million. His potential prison sentence of 65 years could also significantly impact his net worth.
- What is the estimated value of the bribes received by Rick Singer? Prosecutors estimated that Singer received over $25 million from his clients, around $7 million of which was paid in bribes.
- How much money did Rick Singer make from his scheme? While the exact amount is unclear, it is claimed that Singer received over $25 million from his clients between 2011 and 2018. Around $7 million of this amount was allegedly used for bribes.
- What happened to Rick Singer’s assets after the scandal? Rick Singer sold his home in Newport Beach, California for $2.5 million, which he used to pay towards the forfeiture agreement.
- What was the outcome of Rick Singer’s trial? Rick Singer was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison, plus an additional three years of supervised release and a forfeiture of $10 million.
- What businesses did Rick Singer operate? Rick Singer operated two organizations: The Key, a consulting business providing college preparation and guidance, and the Key Worldwide Foundation, a charitable foundation connected to The Key.
- Did Rick Singer work alone in the scandal? Rick Singer was the mastermind of the scandal, but he didn’t act alone. Over 50 people were eventually arrested in connection with the scheme, including university coaches and other administrative officials.
- What were some of the methods Rick Singer used in his scheme? Singer used methods such as payments to help students cheat on standardized tests like the SAT and facilitated bribes to university coaches and admissions officials to influence admissions.
- What were the charges against Rick Singer? Rick Singer pleaded guilty to four criminal charges: racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, and obstruction of justice.
- How has Rick Singer’s life changed after his sentencing? Rick Singer was living in a Florida trailer park after his sentencing, and he had to report to prison on February 27
