A former California real estate executive was sentenced to six months in prison for funding a scheme to get his children into the University of Southern California as fake soccer and basketball recruits, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Toby Macfarlane, 56, had pleaded guilty in June to fraud conspiracy after admitting he paid $450,000 so his son and daughter could gain admission to USC through what a corrupt consultant called a “side door.” He became the 13th parent sentenced in the college admissions bribery scandal that came to light in March.
At a hearing in Boston, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton sentenced Macfarlane to six months behind bars — the longest term any parent caught in the Varsity Blues investigation has yet received — and two years of supervised release, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The judge also imposed a $150,000 fine and ordered Macfarlane to perform 200 hours of community service.
Prosecutors emphasized in a sentencing memorandum that Macfarlane executed the scheme twice. “Ultimately, he chose to commit a crime,” they wrote. “He did so knowingly and after consideration.
