Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A former Southern California school director who's at the center of the national college admissions cheating scandal has agreed to plead guilty and cooperate with federal authorities in the case.
Igor Dvorskiy will waive his right to a trial and plead guilty to federal racketeering charges in Boston next month, court records show. A plea reversal could be damaging to other defendants arrested as part of Operation Varsity Blues who still have trials scheduled.
Dvorskiy initially pleaded not guilty in March, and will cooperate with authorities as part of an agreement, prosecutors said.
The former director of the private West Hollywood Test Center is the 24th of 52 defendants who have pleaded guilty in agreements with the U.S. Attorneys Office. Three parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, have been sentenced. William "Rick" Singer, founder of the Edge College & Career Network, has also pleaded guilty.
Singer is regarded as the leader of the scheme, in which wealthy parents paid for good test scores to ensure college admission for their children. Singer arranged for the students to be tested at Dvokskiy's preparatory school, where prosecutors say the tests were falsely graded. Mark Riddell, Singer's co-conspirator who graded the tests, pleaded guilty in April.
Still awaiting trial is actress Lori Laughlin, who prosecutors say paid Singer $500,000 to get her daughter admitted to the University of Southern California on a phony rowing scholarship.
