Overview
Steptoe partner Ashwin Ram was quoted in a Yahoo Finance article titled "Varsity Blues: First Parents Stand Trial in College Admissions Bribery Scandal." The article, published September 8, discusses the criminal trial of two parents over their alleged participation in a widespread criminal scheme to fraudulently secure college admissions for their children.
Ram notes that behind the defendants' theory is the reality that donating money to a university is a legal path to charter goodwill on behalf of a prospective student. The parents, he says, argue their involvement was limited within that scope.
"You can publicly give $10 million to Harvard right now and have a wing named after you, and if you do that, it naturally increases the chances that your child will go there," he says. "That's not illegal."
The full article can be read at Yahoo Finance.