BOSTON (CN) - Prosecutors in the admissions-bribery case that has rocked colleges across the country told a federal judge Monday that it is still too early to finalize the evidence — a record that includes millions of pages and counting.
“Full House” actress Lori Loughlin is one of multiple defendants still awaiting trial in a case where prosecutors say the Edge College & Career Network arranged for desperate wealthy parents to get their children enrolled at top-flight schools around the country.
The bribery scam was multipronged: some teens got extra time for on their SAT and ACT college-entrance exams because they were falsely designated as having a learning disability, while others were subjected to a lower academic threshold by college admissions committees because they were designated falsely as student athletes.
None of the parties appeared in court for this morning’s pretrial conference where defense attorney Aaron Katz said the court should certify the evidence.
Katz said attorneys plans to challenge the idea that parents like his client Elizabeth Henriquez were aware that they were bribing administrators in sports programs.
There are already numerous examples where parents whom the government has not charged were only vaguely told by Edge founder Rick Singer where their money would go.
“Singer said that their money was going to the schools and not necessarily into the pockets of people at these schools,” said Katz. “We have already seen some emails from Singer that does make those representations.”
Singer has already pleaded guilty, but the government said certification would be unreasonable at this point because new evidence continues to be generated.
Assistant United States Attorney Eric Rosen estimated that the evidence today includes more than 3 million pages of transcribed phone calls and over 1 million emails, and that the process of analyzing this material is still underway
Rosen also said that the government does not anticipate using any expert witnesses during the trial but that a final decision had to be made.
U.S. Magistrate Page Kelley scheduled the next pretrial status conference for Oct. 2.
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