(Photo Credit: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg)

Michelle Janavs admits to working with scam service

The trial for the U.S. College Admissions Scandal is still ongoing with more big names being called to court, including the heiress of the Hot Pocket food manufacturer, Michelle Janavs. The heiress is set to appear in Boston federal court for admitting her role in the U.S. college admissions scam paying $300,000 to people claiming they could help her daughter with gaining admission to the University of California.

The scam service helped her daughter gain an unfair advantage by helping her cheat on college entrance exams and give admission under a fake volleyball recruit. Janavs is among the 53 charged with involvement in this scheme and the prosecutors are seeking 21 months prison sentence for Janavs who plead guilty in October. Janavs’ lawyers argue that she deserves probation.

Prosecutors claim Janavs paid ring leader of the scam, William “Rick” Singer, $100,000 to have an associate take the ACT entrance exam at a testing center controlled by Singer through bribery in order to inflate the score for her two daughters. Singer was the consultant of the service, pleading guilty in March for bribing sports coaches presenting participants as fake athletic recruits and facilitating cheating on college exams.

Michelle Janavs, the heir to the Hot Pockets fortune, will be sentenced after pleading guilty to rigging her daughters' standardized test scores and fraudulently posing one as a beach volleyball recruit https://t.co/XmUeog3vRz

— Bloomberg (@business) February 25, 2020

Prosecutors also claim that Janavs paid $200,000 to get admission for one of her daughters at the University of Southern California by bribing athletic officials to designate her as a beach volleyball recruit. USC responded by rescinding admission for Janavs’ daughter.

According to Reuters, Janavs is a former executive at Chef America Inc, the food manufacturer that was co-founded by her father who also invented the ever-popular Hot Pocket. Chef America Inc later sold the Hot Pocket to Nestle SA for $2.6 billion in 2002. In a letter to the court, Janavs apologizes for causing harm to students who work hard to gain admission without having to cheat.