Dad Gets 5 Months Sentence in College Scam, Stiffest Term for Parent Yet

  • California winemaker paid $300,000 to get daughter into USC
  • Lowest term is Huffman’s 14 days; so far everyone’s doing time
Agustin Huneeus, right, exits federal court in Boston on May 21.Photographer: Scott Eisen/Bloomberg
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A California winemaker drew the stiffest sentence yet of the parents punished in the U.S. college-admissions scandal: a five-month prison term for paying $300,000 to fix his daughter’s SAT scores and get her into the University of Southern California as a water polo recruit.

Agustin Huneeus, the former chief executive officer of Huneeus Vintners LLC, had asked for two months -- the second parent in a row to request jail time, after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston ordered the first three incarcerated. Prosecutors wanted 15 months.