Mark Riddell, who prosecutors say doctored dozens of college entrance exams, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to fraud and money laundering charges.
He was so brilliant, prosecutors said, that you could pick the score you wanted on the SAT or ACT, and he would hit it.
Mark Riddell, a 36-year-old Harvard graduate who is accused of doctoring dozens of college entrance exams for the children of wealthy families, pleaded guilty Friday to charges of fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy, federal authorities in Boston said.
Even as he implicated Riddell in a widespread defrauding of the country’s top universities, Andrew Lelling, the U. S. attorney in Massachusetts, acknowledged Riddell’s mastery of the entrance exams that can make or break a college application.
Riddell didn’t have any inside information. “He was just smart enough,” Lelling said, “to get a near perfect score on demand or to calibrate the score.”
Among the tests Riddell fixed was an SAT taken by the daughter of actress Felicity Huffman, prosecutors say. Huffman, who has agreed to plead guilty to fraud conspiracy, paid $15,000 for Riddell to correct her daughter’s answers after she’d finished the test.
The actress admitted her guilt on Monday and said she had “betrayed” her daughter and every student who was admitted to college through their honest work. Huffman said her daughter knew nothing of the scheme.
“This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life,” she said in a statement.
