How a 'side door' allegedly allowed unqualified students to gain admission
LOS ANGELES - A prominent Napa Valley vintner worked feverishly last fall to secure his daughter's admission to USC as a water polo recruit.
The catch: The girl wasn't qualified to join the powerhouse team that is routinely among the nation's best.
That didn't stop the father, according to court documents. His effort over more than a year - aided by a for-profit college counseling and preparation business in Newport Beach - included arranging a fraudulent SAT score, fabricating an athletic profile that described her as a "2017 Team MVP" and emailing a photograph of another individual playing water polo that was presented as her. A senior athletic department official at USC would see to it that the daughter would receive a conditional acceptance to the highly selective private university. In return, the
