A California periodontist has agreed to plead guilty to filing a false tax return in connection with the college admissions scandal in which wealthy parents, including celebrities, allegedly paid to get their children admitted to elite universities.
A plea hearing for Dr. Homayoun Zadeh, PhD, an associate professor of dentistry at the University of Southern California (USC), has not yet been scheduled, according to a press release issued July 1 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Under the terms of his plea agreement, Zadeh has agreed to a prison sentence of six weeks, one year of supervised release, 250 hours of community service, and a $20,000 fine. Sentencing guidelines for this offense call for a prison term of up to three years, one year of supervised release, and a fine of whichever is greater: $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, according to the attorney's office.
The court must agree to the terms in the plea agreement. If the terms are accepted, Zadeh will become the 31st parent to plead guilty in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation named Zadeh as a defendant in the scandal in March 2019. Zadeh is one of about three dozen parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who allegedly worked with life coach and college counselor William "Rick" Singer to unfairly get their children into some of the top colleges in the U.S.
Zadeh reportedly paid $100,000 to Singer to facilitate the admission of his daughter into USC. The Department of Justice asserted that the periodontist made installment payments toward the total to Singer's purported charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation, in exchange for his daughter's admission to the California university. Zadeh deducted the amount from his taxes as a charitable gift despite knowing that they were not legitimate charitable donations, according to a charging document.
In total, parents paid Singer $25 million to ensure their children were accepted to institutions including the University of Texas, the University of Southern California, Stanford University, Georgetown University, and Yale University. Singer has pleaded guilty for his part in the scheme.
