The Biden administration has waived off $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 560,000 borrowers who were defrauded by the now-defunct network Corinthian Colleges.

Making the announcement on Wednesday, the Department of Education described it as “the largest single loan discharge the department has made in history.”

Vice President Kamala Harris had initialled sued Corinthian when she was California’s attorney general after it came to the fore that these for-profit institutions engaged in widespread misconduct, deception, and other illegal practices.

Corinthian was founded in 1995, and by 2010, it had enrolled more than 100,000 students across 100 campuses. It was eventually closed in April 2015.

The Department of Education found that Corinthian Colleges misled prospective students about the ability to transfer credits and falsified its job placement rate.

"As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans," US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

"For far too long, Corinthian engaged in the wholesale financial exploitation of students, misleading them into taking on more and more debt to pay for promises they would never keep. While our actions today will relieve Corinthian Colleges' victims of their burdens, the Department of Education is actively ramping up oversight to better protect today's students from tactics and make sure that for-profit institutions – and the corporations that own them – never again get away with such abuse."

The latest move to relax student loans comes as the White House has been reportedly mulling whether to move ahead with broad-based student loan forgiveness.

Most recently, officials were leaning toward wiping out $10,000 for all borrowers who earn below $150,000, CNBC reported.

During his campaign trail, Biden proposed cancelling a minimum of $10,000 in student debt per person as a response to the pandemic, as well as forgiving all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities for those borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The Biden administration has waived off $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 560,000 borrowers who were defrauded by the now-defunct network Corinthian Colleges.

The Biden administration has waived off $5.8 billion in student loan debt for 560,000 borrowers who were defrauded by the now-defunct network Corinthian Colleges. Making the announcement on Wednesday, the Department of Education described it as “the largest single loan discharge the department has made in history.” Vice President Kamala Harris had initialled sued Corinthian when she was California’s attorney general after it came to the fore that these for-profit institutions engaged in widespread misconduct, deception, and other illegal practices. Corinthian was founded in 1995, and by 2010, it had enrolled more than 100,000 students across 100 campuses. It was eventually closed in April 2015. The Department of Education found that Corinthian Colleges misled prospective students about the ability to transfer credits and falsified its job placement rate. "As of today, every student deceived, defrauded, and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans," US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement. "For far too long, Corinthian engaged in the wholesale financial exploitation of students, misleading them into taking on more and more debt to pay for promises they would never keep. While our actions today will relieve Corinthian Colleges' victims of their burdens, the Department of Education is actively ramping up oversight to better protect today's students from tactics and make sure that for-profit institutions – and the corporations that own them – never again get away with such abuse." The latest move to relax student loans comes as the White House has been reportedly mulling whether to move ahead with broad-based student loan forgiveness. Most recently, officials were leaning toward wiping out $10,000 for all borrowers who earn below $150,000, CNBC reported. During his campaign trail, Biden proposed cancelling a minimum of $10,000 in student debt per person as a response to the pandemic, as well as forgiving all undergraduate tuition-related federal student debt from two- and four-year public colleges and universities for those borrowers earning up to $125,000 a year. (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Biden administration waives off $5.8 billion in student loans from college that Harris once sued

During opening statements Monday, the defense lawyers for Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson made clear that their clients — the first parents to face trial in the sprawling college admissions scandal — would not be the only ones up for judgment.

The defense lawyers portrayed the men as the victims of William Singer, known as Rick, who they say presented himself as a gifted admissions consultant, but who actually gulled the fathers into thinking they were making legitimate donations to help their children get into the University of Southern California.

And the defense lawyers also cast a jaundiced eye on the college admissions process, which they suggested was open to manipulation and money through their athletic programs.

“He thought Singer was legitimate,” Brian T. Kelly, the lawyer for Abdelaziz, said in his opening statement in Boston federal court. “He had no inkling that Singer was a skilled con man.”

The prosecution, however, said the parents were willing accomplices in a scheme that Leslie Wright, an assistant U.S. attorney, called “fraud” and “bribery.”

Singer told the parents that they could bypass the regular admissions process by presenting their children as athletic recruits, and he falsified or embellished their credentials so they could do that, the prosecutor said. Abdelaziz’s daughter was promoted as a basketball player, and Wilson’s son was presented as a water polo recruit, even though neither child was actually good enough to play at the university.

Wilson wanted his twin daughters to go to Harvard or Stanford. They were good students but “he did not want to take any chances,” Wright said in her opening statement. “He wanted to make sure they got in. He wanted a guarantee.”

Singer, who by then was cooperating with the government, told Wilson that his twin daughters could pose as sailors because he had a house in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the prosecutor said, and that he would arrange for Harvard and Stanford to recruit them in exchange for donations of $1.5 million.

“It’s a done deal,” Singer told Wilson.

Wright told the jury that the athletics department had the power to recruit high school athletes and superstars who would go on to play professional sports. But the scheme Singer concocted was a perversion of the official process, she said, facilitated by corrupt insiders while the admissions officers were in the dark.

“What these two defendants did was criminal,” Wright said. “They participated in a scheme to have their children admitted to college as fake athletic recruits in exchange for money. That’s fraud. It is also a form of bribery.”

She added: “The parents did not come up with the scheme. That was Rick Singer. But without them, it never would have happened.”

She also cautioned that the case was not about anything the children had done.

The federal investigation, known as Operation Varsity Blues, has snared more than 50 parents, coaches, exam administrators and others in an admissions scheme that implicated athletic coaches from colleges including Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown. The government said those arrested were part of a conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students as trumped-up athletic recruits.

Over the past 2 1/2 years, 33 parents -&nbsp;including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and Loughlin’s husband, Mossimo Giannulli, a fashion designer -&nbsp;have pleaded guilty, receiving sentences up to nine months in prison. Three more parents are scheduled to go on trial in January, and one in April.

In opening statements, the defense lawyers admitted that their clients had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Singer, but said they did not know that he was fabricating or embellishing athletic credentials for their children.

In some cases the money was funneled through Singer’s foundation, which allowed the parents to write off the payments as charitable contributions, the prosecutor said. The defense said Monday that the parents had no reason to suspect that the charity, which was registered, was a fraud.

The government said Monday that it did not intend to put Singer, who has pleaded guilty to racketeering, on the witness stand, but that the jury would hear his words on tape and in emails. The defense foreshadowed that it would try to show that Singer had been coerced by the government into painting some parents as criminals even though he did not really believe they were.

The defense lawyers tried to turn their wealthy clients into people the jury could relate to. Kelly pointed out Abdelaziz’s wife, who was sitting in the audience. (Almost everyone in the courtroom wore masks.)

Wilson, who runs a private equity firm, never knew his biological father, according to his lawyer, Michael Kendall, and his mother raised him in a housing project after she became pregnant with him as a teenager. Inspired by his own struggle growing up, Wilson had made a practice of donating millions of dollars to educational causes, Kendall said.

Singer cultivated a personal relationship with the Wilson family, Kendall said. “For three years, he regularly came to the Wilson house,” giving his son advice on tutors, writing coaches and sports, Kendall said. Singer knew that Wilson, whom his lawyer described as “the kid from the projects,” would be “generous and would trust his advice.”

Prosecutors say that Wilson paid $220,000 to have his son, Johnny, designated as a water polo recruit. He was admitted to USC but “redshirted” from the start, meaning that he was one of several players who did not get to play, Wilson’s lawyer said in his opening statement. He left the team after one semester.

Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, had previously hired Singer for a $5,000 fee — more typical of admissions consultants — to coach his son, Adam, on getting into college, Kelly said. After Adam was admitted to Columbia, the university’s development office reached out to Abdelaziz for a donation, and he gave $200,000, Kelly said.

So it seemed normal, Kelly said, when Singer suggested that a donation would facilitate the admission of his daughter Sabrina to USC as a competitive basketball player.

“That’s what these private schools do,” Kelly said. “It’s not illegal to do fundraising, not illegal to give money to a school in the hopes that your kid will get in.”

Singer originally asked for $200,000 and then another $100,000. Kelly said that unbeknown to Abdelaziz, none of it went to USC.

Prosecutors have said that Sabrina did not even make the cut for her high school varsity team.

In court, Kelly introduced a tape of Singer speaking at an event. “My goal today is to teach you what goes on behind closed doors,” Singer could be heard saying on the tape. “If you really want to win at this game, you have to be a part of this game.”

But the prosecutor, Wright, suggested that if this was a game, Singer — aided by a network of corrupt insiders — was not playing by the rules.

“Here’s what the admissions department at these schools did not know, what the insiders did not tell them,” Wright told the jury. “These were not real recruits. They were never going to play.”

During opening statements Monday, the defense lawyers for Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson made clear that their clients — the first parents to face trial in the sprawling college admissions scandal — would not be the only ones up for judgment.

During opening statements Monday, the defense lawyers for Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson made clear that their clients — the first parents to face trial in the sprawling college admissions scandal — would not be the only ones up for judgment. The defense lawyers portrayed the men as the victims of William Singer, known as Rick, who they say presented himself as a gifted admissions consultant, but who actually gulled the fathers into thinking they were making legitimate donations to help their children get into the University of Southern California. And the defense lawyers also cast a jaundiced eye on the college admissions process, which they suggested was open to manipulation and money through their athletic programs. “He thought Singer was legitimate,” Brian T. Kelly, the lawyer for Abdelaziz, said in his opening statement in Boston federal court. “He had no inkling that Singer was a skilled con man.” The prosecution, however, said the parents were willing accomplices in a scheme that Leslie Wright, an assistant U.S. attorney, called “fraud” and “bribery.” Singer told the parents that they could bypass the regular admissions process by presenting their children as athletic recruits, and he falsified or embellished their credentials so they could do that, the prosecutor said. Abdelaziz’s daughter was promoted as a basketball player, and Wilson’s son was presented as a water polo recruit, even though neither child was actually good enough to play at the university. Wilson wanted his twin daughters to go to Harvard or Stanford. They were good students but “he did not want to take any chances,” Wright said in her opening statement. “He wanted to make sure they got in. He wanted a guarantee.” Singer, who by then was cooperating with the government, told Wilson that his twin daughters could pose as sailors because he had a house in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, the prosecutor said, and that he would arrange for Harvard and Stanford to recruit them in exchange for donations of $1.5 million. “It’s a done deal,” Singer told Wilson. Wright told the jury that the athletics department had the power to recruit high school athletes and superstars who would go on to play professional sports. But the scheme Singer concocted was a perversion of the official process, she said, facilitated by corrupt insiders while the admissions officers were in the dark. “What these two defendants did was criminal,” Wright said. “They participated in a scheme to have their children admitted to college as fake athletic recruits in exchange for money. That’s fraud. It is also a form of bribery.” She added: “The parents did not come up with the scheme. That was Rick Singer. But without them, it never would have happened.” She also cautioned that the case was not about anything the children had done. The federal investigation, known as Operation Varsity Blues, has snared more than 50 parents, coaches, exam administrators and others in an admissions scheme that implicated athletic coaches from colleges including Yale, Stanford, USC, Wake Forest and Georgetown. The government said those arrested were part of a conspiracy that facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and the admission of students as trumped-up athletic recruits. Over the past 2 1/2 years, 33 parents - including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and Loughlin’s husband, Mossimo Giannulli, a fashion designer - have pleaded guilty, receiving sentences up to nine months in prison. Three more parents are scheduled to go on trial in January, and one in April. In opening statements, the defense lawyers admitted that their clients had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Singer, but said they did not know that he was fabricating or embellishing athletic credentials for their children. In some cases the money was funneled through Singer’s foundation, which allowed the parents to write off the payments as charitable contributions, the prosecutor said. The defense said Monday that the parents had no reason to suspect that the charity, which was registered, was a fraud. The government said Monday that it did not intend to put Singer, who has pleaded guilty to racketeering, on the witness stand, but that the jury would hear his words on tape and in emails. The defense foreshadowed that it would try to show that Singer had been coerced by the government into painting some parents as criminals even though he did not really believe they were. The defense lawyers tried to turn their wealthy clients into people the jury could relate to. Kelly pointed out Abdelaziz’s wife, who was sitting in the audience. (Almost everyone in the courtroom wore masks.) Wilson, who runs a private equity firm, never knew his biological father, according to his lawyer, Michael Kendall, and his mother raised him in a housing project after she became pregnant with him as a teenager. Inspired by his own struggle growing up, Wilson had made a practice of donating millions of dollars to educational causes, Kendall said. Singer cultivated a personal relationship with the Wilson family, Kendall said. “For three years, he regularly came to the Wilson house,” giving his son advice on tutors, writing coaches and sports, Kendall said. Singer knew that Wilson, whom his lawyer described as “the kid from the projects,” would be “generous and would trust his advice.” Prosecutors say that Wilson paid $220,000 to have his son, Johnny, designated as a water polo recruit. He was admitted to USC but “redshirted” from the start, meaning that he was one of several players who did not get to play, Wilson’s lawyer said in his opening statement. He left the team after one semester. Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, had previously hired Singer for a $5,000 fee — more typical of admissions consultants — to coach his son, Adam, on getting into college, Kelly said. After Adam was admitted to Columbia, the university’s development office reached out to Abdelaziz for a donation, and he gave $200,000, Kelly said. So it seemed normal, Kelly said, when Singer suggested that a donation would facilitate the admission of his daughter Sabrina to USC as a competitive basketball player. “That’s what these private schools do,” Kelly said. “It’s not illegal to do fundraising, not illegal to give money to a school in the hopes that your kid will get in.” Singer originally asked for $200,000 and then another $100,000. Kelly said that unbeknown to Abdelaziz, none of it went to USC. Prosecutors have said that Sabrina did not even make the cut for her high school varsity team. In court, Kelly introduced a tape of Singer speaking at an event. “My goal today is to teach you what goes on behind closed doors,” Singer could be heard saying on the tape. “If you really want to win at this game, you have to be a part of this game.” But the prosecutor, Wright, suggested that if this was a game, Singer — aided by a network of corrupt insiders — was not playing by the rules. “Here’s what the admissions department at these schools did not know, what the insiders did not tell them,” Wright told the jury. “These were not real recruits. They were never going to play.”

Parents were duped, their lawyers say in start of college admissions trial

A federal judge on Thursday said actress Lori Loughlin in October will be among eight parents accused of participating in a vast US college admissions bribery and fraud scheme to face the first trial to result from the scandal. 
 
The 'Full House'&nbsp;star along with her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are among 15 parents fighting charges brought by federal prosecutors in Boston stemming from the US&nbsp;college admissions scandal. 
 
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said the first group of those parents would face trial on Oct. 4, while the remaining parents would face trial on Jan. 11. 
 
Prosecutors have accused 53 people of participating in a scheme in which 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. 
 
William "Rick" Singer, the consultant, pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges he facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and helped bribe university sports coaches to present his clients` children as fake athletic recruits. 
 
Prosecutors allege that Loughlin and Giannulli agreed with Singer to pay $500,000 in bribes to have their two daughters named as fake recruits to the University of Southern California crew team.

A federal judge on Thursday said actress Lori Loughlin in October will be among eight parents accused of participating in a vast US college admissions bribery and fraud scheme to face the first trial to result from the scandal.

A federal judge on Thursday said actress Lori Loughlin in October will be among eight parents accused of participating in a vast US college admissions bribery and fraud scheme to face the first trial to result from the scandal. The 'Full House' star along with her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are among 15 parents fighting charges brought by federal prosecutors in Boston stemming from the US college admissions scandal. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said the first group of those parents would face trial on Oct. 4, while the remaining parents would face trial on Jan. 11. Prosecutors have accused 53 people of participating in a scheme in which 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. William "Rick" Singer, the consultant, pleaded guilty in March 2019 to charges he facilitated cheating on college entrance exams and helped bribe university sports coaches to present his clients` children as fake athletic recruits. Prosecutors allege that Loughlin and Giannulli agreed with Singer to pay $500,000 in bribes to have their two daughters named as fake recruits to the University of Southern California crew team.

Actress Lori Loughlin among parents to face October trial over US college scam

Actress Lori Loughlin on Tuesday waved off concerns about a potential conflict involving the lawyers who will defend the 'Full House'&nbsp;star and her husband against charges of participating in a US&nbsp;college admissions scam.

Federal prosecutors have accused Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California through bribery as purported crew recruits.

They are among 51 people charged since March with participating in a vast scheme in which wealthy parents conspired to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure an admission of their children to top universities.

Prosecutors claim they did so with the help of William “Rick” Singer, a California college admissions consultant who has pleaded guilty to helping bribe university sports coaches to present clients’ children as fake athletic recruits.

Both Loughlin and Giannulli have pleaded not guilty.

At Tuesday’s hearing, a federal magistrate judge questioned Loughlin and Giannulli about whether they were aware of the risks posed by their decision to be jointly represented by the law firm Latham &amp; Watkins.

US&nbsp;Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley told them the choice could hamper their individual defences. For example, if one wanted to testify at trial, their lawyers might not want that because it could hurt the spouse’s defence, she said.

“You need to have the undivided loyalty of counsel,” she said.

But the judge said she would allow Loughlin and Giannulli to waive the conflict after both confirmed they wanted to continue being represented by Latham.

“My clients do have a united front,” William Trach, a lawyer at Latham, said.

Prosecutors had also previously questioned whether Latham needed to be disqualified as it counted USC as a client, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said that was no longer an issue after the firm ceased working for the school.

The judge withheld immediately ruling on whether another, smaller firm retained by Giannulli may need to be disqualified because it also represents a cooperating witness, but Kelley said she likely would allow the conflict to be waived.

Thirty-four parents have been charged in the college admissions scandal. Of those, 15 have agreed to plead guilty, including 'Desperate Housewives'&nbsp;TV star Felicity Huffman. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September&nbsp;13.

Actress Lori Loughlin on Tuesday waved off concerns about a potential conflict involving the lawyers who will defend the 'Full House' star and her husband against charges of participating in a US college admissions scam.

Actress Lori Loughlin on Tuesday waved off concerns about a potential conflict involving the lawyers who will defend the 'Full House' star and her husband against charges of participating in a US college admissions scam. Federal prosecutors have accused Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California through bribery as purported crew recruits. They are among 51 people charged since March with participating in a vast scheme in which wealthy parents conspired to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure an admission of their children to top universities. Prosecutors claim they did so with the help of William “Rick” Singer, a California college admissions consultant who has pleaded guilty to helping bribe university sports coaches to present clients’ children as fake athletic recruits. Both Loughlin and Giannulli have pleaded not guilty. At Tuesday’s hearing, a federal magistrate judge questioned Loughlin and Giannulli about whether they were aware of the risks posed by their decision to be jointly represented by the law firm Latham & Watkins. US Magistrate Judge M. Page Kelley told them the choice could hamper their individual defences. For example, if one wanted to testify at trial, their lawyers might not want that because it could hurt the spouse’s defence, she said. “You need to have the undivided loyalty of counsel,” she said. But the judge said she would allow Loughlin and Giannulli to waive the conflict after both confirmed they wanted to continue being represented by Latham. “My clients do have a united front,” William Trach, a lawyer at Latham, said. Prosecutors had also previously questioned whether Latham needed to be disqualified as it counted USC as a client, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said that was no longer an issue after the firm ceased working for the school. The judge withheld immediately ruling on whether another, smaller firm retained by Giannulli may need to be disqualified because it also represents a cooperating witness, but Kelley said she likely would allow the conflict to be waived. Thirty-four parents have been charged in the college admissions scandal. Of those, 15 have agreed to plead guilty, including 'Desperate Housewives' TV star Felicity Huffman. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 13.

Actress Lori Loughlin waves off attorney conflict in US college scam case

Actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to paying to rig a college entrance exam for her daughter, part of a wide-ranging scandal in which wealthy parents used bribery and fraud to secure their children spots at prominent US universities.

Actress Felicity Huffman pleads guilty in court in US college admissions scandal