Her mom thought $6.5 million was a donation to Stanford

A Chinese mother who allegedly paid $6.5 million to get her daughter into Stanford has claimed she and her family are, in fact, victims in the massive college admissions scandal that has rocked the United States.

The mother of Yusi Zhao says that she believed the sum she paid to a foundation run by William Rick Singer, the education consultant in the middle of the mega-scandal, was a “generous” donation to the university that would help pay for the salaries of academic staff, athletic programs, and scholarships for students who could not afford tuition.

She was “misled, her generosity has been taken advantage of, and her daughter has fallen victim to the scam,” a Hong Kong law firm representing the family told the Global Times, describing the mother and daughter as being “shocked” and “deeply disturbed” by what had transpired.

Yusi Zhao was admitted into Stanford in 2017. She is the daughter of Zhao Tao, the billionaire chairman and co-founder of Shandong Buchang Pharmaceuticals, a supplier of traditional Chinese medicine products.

The sophomore was expelled from Stanford last month after it was revealed that her application included falsified information regarding her sailing credentials and was followed by a $500,000 donation to the university’s sailing program from Singer’s foundation. Yusi has no sailing experience.

Dozens of wealthy families are alleged to have paid Singer to make sure that their kids got into some of the country’s top schools. Singer accomplished this feat either by helping the students cheat on the SAT or by bribing school officials to accept them as student athletes.

Singer is currently awaiting sentencing after already pleading guilty to several crimes. Meanwhile, 33 parents have so far been charged with fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering offenses in connection to the scandal. Zhao’s family, however, have not been charged with any crimes despite allegedly paying Singer far, far more than anyone else.

Most families paid Singer only tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The second highest sum, $1.2 million, came from another Chinese family. That family has also claimed to have been bamboozled by Singer who helped their daughter, Sherry Guo, get into Yale on fake football credentials.

Guo’s family claims that they also believed the money was a charitable donation, declaring that Singer took advantage of their unfamiliarity with the US college admissions system and the English language.

Meanwhile, Zhao’s father has kept mostly quiet about the scandal other than to declare that the payment was not made with company funds. With an MBA from Fordham University in New York, he would appear to be familiar with college admissions in the US.

Zhao Tao.

Following news of the $6.5 million payment last week, a video resurfaced online of a livestream that a 17-year-old Yusi Zhao had made back in July 2017 after she was accepted into Stanford. In the video, Zhao offers advice and encouragement about getting into America’s most elite schools, boasting that she got into Stanford “through my own hard work.”

She explains that previously she did not always receive the best marks on exams, but that she had studied extremely hard for one year and was able to score 33 out of 36 on her ACT.

“Some people think, ‘Didn’t you get into Stanford because your family is rich?’ It’s actually not true. The admissions officers have no idea who you are,” Zhao says, adding that she received a scholarship to pay for her tuition. So far, no evidence of this scholarship has been uncovered.

“I want to tell you that really anyone can do it,” she adds. “My teachers would be shocked if they knew that I was admitted into one of the world’s top universities.”

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