Varsity Blues parent gets early dismissal amid fears of coronavirus spread


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Vintner Huneeus Jr. pledged to pay $300,000 to correct his daughter’s SAT scores and ensure her admission to the USC Class of 2023 as a water polo recruit. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in May. (Daily Trojan file photo)

A parent in the college admissions scandal was released from prison two weeks before the end of his sentence due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus after an inmate in California State Prison, Los Angeles County became the first California prisoner to test positive for the virus Sunday.

Napa Valley winemaker Agustin Huneeus Jr. was sentenced to five months in prison, two years of supervised release, 500 hours of community service and fined $100,000 last October for pledging to pay $300,000 to rig his daughter’s SAT and falsely designate her as a water polo recruit on her USC application.

Huneeus submitted a request in court to shorten his sentence and was granted early release last week. Federal judge Indira Talwani, the judge who oversaw the hearing requesting Huneeus’ release, cited his “extraordinary and compelling” circumstances, which included a publicly undisclosed health condition. 

Los Angeles business executive Devin Sloane, who was sentenced to four months in prison in September for arranging for his son’s 2018 admission to USC as a water polo recruit, also requested an early dismissal but was denied by the same judge who granted Huneeus his release. According to Talwani, Sloane did not seek alternative methods of gaining release before appealing to the court. 

Huneeus paid scheme organizer William “Rick” Singer $50,000 in April 2018 to arrange for his daughter to get extended time on the SAT and for her answers to be corrected at the testing center. He paid senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel $50,000 in fall 2018 for creating an athletic recruitment profile for his daughter that listed fabricated water polo awards and used a photo of a different water polo player. 

Heinel presented Huneeus’ daughter to an admissions subcommittee for approval, and she was granted conditional acceptance to the University in November 2018 to matriculate in Fall 2019. Huneeus pledged to pay Singer an additional $200,000 but was charged in the case before the transaction could be finalized. 

Huneeus and Sloane are among 20 parents who have pleaded guilty in the college admissions case. Fifteen parents, including 11 with ties to USC, pleaded not guilty and will stand trial beginning in October.