Los Angeles Times

USC's role in yet another scandal prompts anger, disappointment among its community

LOS ANGELES - Professor Homayoun Zadeh was an institution at the University of Southern California dental school, rising over a four-decade academic career from student to lab director to chair of the periodontology department.

But when it came time for his own daughter to apply to USC, Zadeh turned to an off-campus connection to make sure she got in. As laid out in an FBI affidavit filed in court this week, the 57-year-old agreed to pay a shady college consultant from Newport Beach $100,000 to bribe a corrupt athletic department administrator. His daughter was admitted as a star recruit in lacrosse, a sport she did not play, according to federal prosecutors.

"I have not shared anything about our arrangement but she somehow senses it," he wrote of the teenager in a 2017 text to the counselor quoted in the affidavit. "She's

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times3 min read
Review: Dua Lipa Is A Pop Star With No Lore On 'Radical Optimism'
Dua Lipa's "Radical Optimism" has a hilarious album cover, two songs about illusionists and what may end up the year's most succulent bass playing. What it doesn't have is the kind of detailed celebrity meta-narrative that's come to define — and to p
Los Angeles Times2 min read
Three Friends Drove From California To Mexico For A Surfing Trip. Then They Disappeared
MEXICO CITY — Last month, two brothers and one of their friends crossed from the United States into Mexico to explore Baja California's famous surf breaks. Pictures posted online by one of the brothers, Callum Robinson, 33, show the men gazing out at
Los Angeles Times2 min read
Three Friends Drove From California To Mexico For A Surfing Trip. Then They Disappeared
Last month, two brothers and one of their friends crossed from the United States into Mexico to explore Baja California's famous surf breaks. One of the brothers, Callum Robinson, 33, posted snapshots of their journey on Instagram, showing the men ga

Related Books & Audiobooks