Admissions Scam Judge: Alleged Gov't Misconduct 'Disturbing'

Lori Loughlin and daughters

A federal judge Friday called allegations of law enforcement misconduct in the nation's college admissions scandal headlined by actress Lori Loughlin "serious and disturbing" as he ordered prosecutors to provide more information in the blockbuster case.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton made the comments in a written order as defense attorneys for 14 parents, including Loughlin, seek dismissal of the case because of the alleged misconduct.

Judge Gorton

At issue are notes Rick Singer, the mastermind of a nationwide college admissions scheme, took on his iPhone after discussions with FBI investigators on Oct. 2, 2018 about recorded phone calls they directed him to make to parents who were his clients.

Singer was cooperating with the FBI. He wrote that agents told him to lie and get his clients to restate they were making bribes to college officials – counter to what he claimed he actually told them before they paid him to get their children into college.

"The Court considers the allegations in Singer's October notes to be serious and disturbing," Gorton wrote. "While government agents are permitted to coach cooperating witnesses during the course of an investigation, they are not permitted to suborn the commission of a crime."

The judge did not decide whether to dismiss the case, instead ordering prosecutors to respond to the allegations. The defendants then have until May 1 to respond to the government.

In one note, Singer wrote that FBI officials got "loud and abrasive" and "continue to ask me to tell a fib" about what he told clients before they paid into his scheme.