Former UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo has agreed to plead guilty for his role in the college admissions scandal that swept up athletic departments across the country.
According to the Pasadena News Star, Salcedo reached an agreement to plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit racketeering. He’s admitted to accepting $200,000 in bribes to help two prospective students get on campus at UCLA.
In 2016, Salcedo worked with William Singer, the ringleader of the illicit admissions operation, to get two students admitted to the school under fraudulent circumstances. In one case, Salcedo was paid $100,000 for his involvement in helping land a prospective student on campus as a recruited women’s soccer player. In another case, Salcedo accepted a $100,000 payment in exchange for pretending to recruit a prospective student to become a member of the men’s soccer team, despite the prospect not being a competitive soccer player.
Salcedo and Singer are two of the 53 total defendants charged in the sweeping scandal. To date, 37 of those defendants have pleaded guilty. Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were also charged in the case, and are set to stand trial in October.
Salcedo resigned from his position as the UCLA men’s soccer coach in March 2019, after serving in the role for 15 years. Prosecutors will reportedly recommend a sentence at the low end of the sentencing guidelines in the plea agreement.
