Former TPG Capital exec admits paying $50,000 to rig son’s college entrance exam

3:54 pm Wednesday, February 10th, 2021

By Nate Raymond

BOSTON (Reuters) – A former senior executive at private equity firm TPG Capital pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a vast U.S. college admissions fraud scheme by paying $50,000 to rig his son’s college entrance exam results.

Bill McGlashan, 57, appeared virtually before a federal judge in Boston to plead guilty to a wire fraud charge under a deal with prosecutors that calls for him to serve three months in prison and pay a $250,000 fine.

But his plea is conditional. Under a deal with prosecutors, McGlashan, the former managing partner of TPG Growth and co-founder of The Rise Fund, could withdraw his plea if he succeeds in appealing a judge’s decision to not throw out that charge.

Prosecutors also agreed to drop charges that he conspired to pay $250,000 to bribe a University of Southern California official and have his son admitted to the school as a fake football recruit.

U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton scheduled his sentencing for May 12.

McGlashan is one of 57 people charged in the college admissions scandal, in which prosecutors said parents conspired with California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to secure their children’s college admissions fraudulently.

Singer pleaded guilty in March 2019 to facilitating cheating on college entrance exams and using bribery to secure the admission of students to colleges as fake athletic recruits.

Thirty parents have pleaded guilty, including “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who received a 14-day prison sentence, and “Full House” star Lori Loughlin, who was sentenced to two months in prison.

Prosecutors said that McGlashan paid Singer $50,000 to bribe a corrupt test administrator in West Hollywood to allow an associate to proctor his son’s ACT exam and secretly correct his answers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin O’Connell said McGlashan and Singer also discussed making similar cheating accommodations for his two younger children.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)