Hot Pockets Heiress Faces Sentencing In College Admissions Scandal
Michelle Janavs, whose family’s company created Hot Pockets, faces sentencing today (February 25) for paying $300,000 to collaborators who helped her two daughters cheat on college entrance exams and helped one win admission to the University of Southern California as a fake volleyball recruit, according to Reuters.
The New York Post reports that Janavs confessed to paying college fixer William “Rick” Singer $100,000 to have a proctor correct her daughters’ ACT exam answers and that she also agreed to pay $200,000 to have one daughter falsely labeled as a beach volleyball recruit at the University of Southern California. However, the Post says that she was arrested before the girl was formally admitted, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors are seeking 21 months in prison for Janavs, who pleaded guilty in October. Her lawyers argue Janavs deserves probation, and that she was a victim of Singer’s “manipulative sales tactics.”
Janavs is among 53 people charged with participating in a scheme in which wealthy parents conspired with a California college admissions consultant to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure the admission of their children to top schools. Lori Loughlin and her husband, who are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California, will also appear in Boston court this week.
