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Palatella, McGlashan plead not guilty in college bribery scam

Original post made on Apr 15, 2019

Two local parents in the college-admissions bribery scandal pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud on April 15.

Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, April 15, 2019, 7:30 PM

Comments (10)

Posted by resident
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 15, 2019 at 9:50 pm

They are obviously guilty. They are just trying to work out a plea deal on lesser charges to avoid serious prison time.


Posted by Observer
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Apr 16, 2019 at 3:39 pm

How will they explain this recorded conversation as written i PA Online on 3/26/19:

On Oct. 24, 2018, Singer called the Colburns from Boston, Massachusetts. He told Amy Colburn the Internal Revenue Service had asked him about the payments for her son's March 10, 2018 SAT test in southern California at the West Hollywood Test Center, where Singer sent his clients' children to cheat on the college-admissions tests.

"OK, is that a problem?" Amy Colburn allegedly replied.

Singer said that he was not going to mention to the IRS that Mark Riddell, a Florida man Singer had brought in to "proctor" the exams, had taken the test for their son.

"Mmm-hmmm," Amy Colburn allegedly said.

Singer said he told the IRS that her payment "went to the foundation to help underserved kids."

"OK," Amy Colburn responded.

Singer also spoke to Gregory Colburn during that same phone call. He said that he was not telling the IRS that Riddell took the test for his son at the West Hollywood Test Center.


Posted by Annette
a resident of College Terrace
on Apr 16, 2019 at 3:40 pm

Annette is a registered user.

Felicity Huffman seems to have gotten better legal advice. And she is smart enough to have followed it. She's at least got a chance of salvaging her reputation and mending family relations. Throwing money around on a slick legal defense underscores the basic problem: some of the Singer people think money is the answer to everything. It is a helpful commodity, to be sure, but in this case it has caused nothing but trouble.


Posted by Guilty As Charged
a resident of Crescent Park
on Apr 17, 2019 at 8:55 am

(1) Pleading 'not guilty' will force & enable countless new hearings based on additional 'discovery', evidentiary depositions & petitions to dismiss.

(2) It will place the burden of proof on the prosecution possibly encouraging an agreed upon settlement of lesser sentencing (i.e. minimum jail time with fine).

(3) This is an expensive gamble as the defense attorneys will be racking up an extensive number of billable hours. Then again, the defendant's can probably afford the legal fees & if they go bankrupt in the process, do we really care?

(4) Pleading 'no contest' without admitting guilt is the rational approach but Hollywood types & fashion designers are not known for being rational. The same can also be said of those without moral or ethical compass.


Posted by resident
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 17, 2019 at 11:00 am

Word on the street is that the Feds are pushing for prison time for all the perps. The ones pleading not guilty just haven't come to terms with that yet, but they're going to have to sooner or later.


Posted by TimH
a resident of Old Palo Alto
on Apr 18, 2019 at 8:27 am

Citing a 1946 Supreme Court decision which associates cases where "thieves using a single "fence" to dispose of their loot" is quite a stretch since the indictments appear to have been issued to individuals or couples, not to one united group of people. This legal misdirection wilts against the alleged proof already circulating in the media. "You didn't ask me about it the right way" doesn't change what happened and just seems to be a lie.


Posted by Mark Weiss
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 18, 2019 at 1:09 pm

Mark Weiss is a registered user.

I’ve commented earlier that I knew Bill McGlashan slightly in Palo alto schools three different schools. And we were teammates at least once on the football team I found a picture in the yearbook but did not remember it otherwise But we do have one mutual friend still in addition to hundreds of former classmates.

And I would say the guy who managed $100 billion and probably made tens of millions for himself is a different guy than the one I played flag football with.
And I have no idea what it means to be “the 1%”.

But I would say this does not bother me that much other than Schadenfrude — German word for my pleasure at the suffering of someone else German word for my pleasure at the suffering of someone else. As I see it if someone “” sheets if that’s the word to get his son into a selective private school all that means is some other little brat will go be displaced as I see it if someone ““ sheets if that’s the word to get his son into a selective private school all that means is some other little brat will go be displaced. The bottom 5% of the exclusive schools are coin flips anyhow. So I don’t see how the Mcglashen hypothetical gain hurt any of us.
I think ironically this whole thing is an advertisement for the exclusive schools like Stanford now they can claim that there are in missions are 92% cleaner.

I would just surmise that mcglashan will spend $10-$20 million defending himself and keeping himself out of prison it’s his money he apparently earned it God bless.
Coincidentally He has hired my college classmate John Huestontwerk, to defend him —Hueston cut his teeth as a prosecutor and convicted Ken Lay of Enron.

Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. Let he who has not photoshopped juniors face onto the neighbors better football cast the first


Posted by Mark Weiss
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 18, 2019 at 1:18 pm

Mark Weiss is a registered user.

I’ve commented earlier that I knew Bill McGlashan slightly in Palo alto schools, three different schools. And we were teammates at least once on the football team —I found a picture in the yearbook but did not remember it otherwise. But we do have one mutual friend still, in addition to hundreds of former fellow classmates.

And I would say the guy who managed $100 billion and probably made tens of millions for himself is a different guy than the one I played flag football with.
And I have no idea what it means to be “the 1%”.

But I would say this does not bother me that much other than Schadenfrude — German word for my pleasure at the suffering of someone else. As I see it if someone “cheats” —if that’s the word —to get his son into a selective private school all that means is some other little brat will go be displaced. The bottom 5% of the exclusive schools admissions are coin flips anyhow. So I don’t see how the Mcglashans hypothetical gain hurt any of us.
I think ironically this whole thing is an advertisement for the exclusive schools like Stanford —now they can claim that their admissions are 92% cleaner.

I would just surmise that mcglashan will spend $10-$20 million defending himself and keeping himself out of prison: it’s his money he apparently earned it; God bless.
Coincidentally, he has hired my college classmate John Hueston to defend him —Hueston cut his teeth as a prosecutor and convicted Ken Lay of Enron.

Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. Let he who has not photoshopped junior’s face onto their neighbors better football body cast the first


Posted by Mark Weiss
a resident of Downtown North
on Apr 18, 2019 at 1:18 pm

Mark Weiss is a registered user.

..twerk.


Posted by Will Chen
a resident of another community
on Apr 18, 2019 at 4:07 pm

The defendants who entered into a plea agreement are the smart ones. As a lawyer, I know that the U.S. Attorneys are incredibly tenacious at prosecuting tax fraud crimes and quite successful at securing a conviction.

If found guilty, those defendants are sure to serve time in a federal prison.


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