A California woman who hired somebody to take online classes for her son was sentenced to five weeks behind bars. Karen Littlefair, 57, was busted as part of "Operation Varsity Blues," which revealed a massive scheme in which wealthy parents arranged to cheat on college admissions tests and bribe college officials to help their children get into the elite universities.
Prosecutors said that Littlefair's son ended up on academic probation at Georgetown University in 2017. To ensure that he graduated in 2018, she enlisted the services of William "Rick" Singer, who was the ringleader of the scheme, to have somebody else take four online classes for her son.
When her son received a C in one of the classes, Littlefair emailed Singer's accountant and asked for a partial refund of the $9,000 she spent.
"Kind of thought there would have been a discount on that one. The grade was a C and the experience was a nightmare," she wrote, according to court documents.
In addition to five weeks in prison, Littlefair was ordered to pay a fine of $209,000 and serve 300 hours of community service.
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