According to a lawyer involved in the case, at least some children of the parents who were charged in the scandal have received target letters, which notify people that they could be targets of a criminal investigation. The lawyer declined to be identified by name, citing sensitivities about the ongoing case. A spokeswoman for the federal prosecutor’s office in Boston, which is handling the case, declined to comment on the development, which was previously reported in Law360, a legal news service, and The Wall Street Journal.
It was uncertain Monday how many students had received such target letters or whether they would, in fact, face additional charges. Several defense lawyers in the case said the children of their clients — parents charged with trying to get their children admitted to college with falsified athletic credentials or altered test scores — had not received such letters.
Federal prosecutors have said that some of the young people involved in the case were oblivious to what their parents were doing, while others were not. “At times, the students were in on it,” a federal prosecutor, Eric S. Rosen, said in court last week during one in a long schedule of hearings in the sprawling case.
More than a dozen parents, including actress Lori Loughlin, have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, court documents showed.
Loughlin’s plea Monday came a week after 13 other parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, indicated that they would plead guilty. The decisions by Loughlin and Huffman, the most widely known parents involved in the case, were only the latest way in which their legal paths have diverged.
Loughlin waived her right to appear in court for an arraignment, after being indicted last week on a count of conspiracy to commit fraud and another of money laundering conspiracy. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, also entered a not guilty plea to the same charges, documents showed.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to ensure that their daughters would be admitted to the University of Southern California. The young women were presented as recruits for the women’s crew team, though they did not participate in the sport, according to prosecutors.
Loughlin, who has appeared largely upbeat during court appearances, has not publicly spoken about the charges.
Also submitting not-guilty pleas and waiving their rights to court appearances for arraignment were business executives, investors and others, including Gamal Abdelaziz, a senior executive of a resort and casino operator; I-Hsin Chen, known as Joey, a provider of warehousing and related services for the shipping industry; and Douglas Hodge, former chief executive of Pimco, one of the world’s biggest bond fund managers.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.