{"id":2449641,"date":"2019-10-08T16:18:47","date_gmt":"2019-10-08T22:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=314011"},"modified":"2019-10-08T16:18:47","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T22:18:47","slug":"aspen-couple-sentenced-to-month-in-prison-for-role-in-college-bribery-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-couple-sentenced-to-month-in-prison-for-role-in-college-bribery-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen couple sentenced to month in prison for role in college bribery scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gregory Abbott, far left, and his wife Marcia, far right, get into a car as they leave federal court after their sentencing in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo\/Elise Amendola)<\/strong>
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BOSTON (AP) \u2014 A business executive and his wife, a former journalist, were each sentenced to a month in prison Tuesday for paying $125,000 to rig their daughter\u2019s college entrance exams in a scandal involving dozens of wealthy and sometimes famous parents.<\/p>\n

Gregory and Marcia Abbott, of New York and Aspen, were sentenced in Boston\u2019s federal court after pleading guilty to a single count of fraud and conspiracy. They follow five other parents who have been sentenced so far, with prison sentences ranging from 14 days to five months.<\/p>\n

The Abbotts paid $50,000 to have a test proctor correct their daughter\u2019s ACT exam answers in 2018, along with $75,000 to rig her SAT subject tests in math and literature, authorities said. They kept the scheme hidden from their daughter.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors had pushed for sentences of eight months in prison and a $40,000 fine for each parent. They said the couple planned to use the test scores to get their daughter into Duke University, where Marcia Abbott had received an English degree.<\/p>\n

In a Sept. 27 letter to the court, Gregory Abbott said that his actions were \u201cwrong and stupid\u201d and that he feels \u201cgenuine remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI share the same sensibilities as most people and, strange as it may sound, identify with the public outrage over my own actions,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI accept full shame and responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gregory Abbott, who lives in New York City, was chairman and CEO of International Dispensing Corp., a food packaging company, in New York until he took a leave of absence in March. Marcia Abbott, who lives in the couple\u2019s home in Aspen, is a former magazine editor and writer. A wedding announcement in 1987 said she was a former fashion editor for Family Circle.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the case\u2019s lead prosecutor said he plans to recommend longer prison sentences for \u201cFull House\u201d star Lori Loughlin and other parents contesting the charges against them.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said in a Sunday interview<\/a> with Boston\u2019s WCVB-TV that the longer Loughlin fights the charges, the longer her recommended sentence will be.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s say she goes through to trial: If it\u2019s after trial, I think certainly we\u2019d be asking for something substantially higher. If she resolved her case short of trial, something a little lower than that,\u201d Lelling said.<\/p>\n

Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake athletes. They have pleaded<\/a> not guilty.<\/p>\n

Lelling added that actress Felicity Huffman\u2019s sentence of 14 days in prison was \u201creasonable.\u201d The \u201cDesperate Housewives\u201d star was sentenced Sept. 13<\/a> after she admitted to paying $15,000 to rig her daughter\u2019s SAT score. Huffman grew up in the Roaring Fork Valley and owns a home here.<\/p>\n

\u201cHuffman was probably the least culpable of the defendants who we\u2019ve charged in that case,\u201d Lelling said. \u201cShe took responsibility almost immediately. She was contrite, did not try to minimize her conduct. I think she handled it in a very classy way,\u201d Lelling said.<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gregory Abbott, far left, and his wife Marcia, far right, get into a car as they leave federal court after their sentencing in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019, in Boston. (AP Photo\/Elise Amendola) BOSTON (AP) \u2014 A business executive and his wife, a former journalist, were each sentenced to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 23:11:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449641\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}