The Chinese family who allegedly paid $6.5 million to get their daughter into Stanford University has been identified.
The billionaire family of former sophomore Yusi Zhao is accused of paying the largest amount of money in the college admissions scandal.
A video has surfaced of Zhao offering college admission advice on social media.
Yusi Zhao’s father, Tao Zhao, is the chairman and co-founder of the pharmaceutical company Shandong Buchang, based in Heze, China.
The Zhao’s — parents or daughter — have not been charged, according to the Los Angeles Times. They were referred to the admissions scam’s ringleader, William Rick Singer, by an employee at Morgan Stanley, a source told the Times.
Dozens of families have been connected to the scandal, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.
Yusi Zhao reportedly left her on-campus residence at the end of March. Her profile disappeared from the campus directory on April 10. A declared East Asian Studies major, Yusi was a member of Stanford’s Forum for American-Chinese Exchange (FACES), and had planned to attend Stanford’s Bing Overseas Studies Program’s inaugural Hong Kong program in fall 2019, according to the Stanford Daily.
Stanford spokespeople said they are unable to confirm or deny whether Yusi has been expelled due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
In order to get Yusi Zhao into Stanford, Singer allegedly created a fake bio of her as a competitive sailing athlete in order to get her admitted with the cooperation of the sailing coach. She was not offered an athletic scholarship.
Singer promised to donate $500,000 to the Stanford sailing program over the course of several years.
Former Stanford sailing head coach John Vandemoer pleaded guilty to racketeering in collaboration with Singer’s fraudulent charity. Both Vandemoer and his attorney Robert Fisher declined to comment to the Stanford Daily. The second largest sum paid to Singer — $1.2 million — was also paid by a Chinese family to get their daughter into Yale. The family of former student Sherry Guo was also not charged.
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