Former insurance executive and USC parent Toby MacFarlane was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison for his involvement in the college admissions scandal.
MacFarlane, the 13th parent sentenced in the fallout of the scandal, pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy after he admitted to paying $450,000 to get his two children into USC as athletic recruits.
In 2013, MacFarlane paid admissions counselor Rick Singer $200,000 to get his daughter into USC as a soccer recruit. Together, MacFarlane and Singer falsified an athletic profile for her, saying that she was a three-time “US Soccer All-American.”
Three years later, MacFarlane paid another $250,000 to get his son into USC as a basketball recruit, with USC Athletics receiving $50,000 of that money. Both payments were claimed as business expenses to qualify for tax deductions.
In addition to the six-month sentence, MacFarlane will spend two years on supervised release and was ordered to pay a fine of $150,000 and complete 200 hours of community service. To date, MacFarlane’s is the longest sentence handed out to the convicted parents involved in the college admissions scandal.