Parent Who Introduced Lori Loughlin to College Consultant Also Charged in Scam
The parent who introduced Lori Loughlin and her husband to disgraced admissions consultant Rick Singer has agreed to plead guilty to hiring Singer on his own to cheat on his daughter’s ACT exam.
Mark Hauser, 59, is the founder of Hauser Private Equity. He also served as chairman of the board of Marymount High School in Los Angeles, where Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli’s daughters attended.
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The charge shows that federal prosecutors in Boston are continuing to pursue additional defendants, 17 months after the case first broke. Hauser will be the 29th parent to plead guilty in the sprawling case, which has ensnared college administrators, coaches and numerous high-profile parents.
Loughlin and Giannulli were sentenced earlier on Friday to prison terms of two months and five months, respectively, for hiring Singer to help bribe their daughters’ way into the University of Southern California.
At the sentencing hearings, attorneys for both defendants said they had been introduced to Singer by Hauser, whom they saw as a trusted source.
According to federal prosecutors, Hauser paid Singer $40,000 to help his daughter get a better score on the ACT exam. A co-conspirator, Mark Riddell, was hired to “proctor” the test, but instead corrected Hauser’s daughter’s answers.
Hauser has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, the same charge that Giannulli pleaded to. The government is expected to ask that Hauser serve six months in prison.
According to an online bio, Hauser has been a producer of several Broadway shows, including “Jersey Boys” and “Spider-Man.”
Hauser is also active in Republican politics in Ohio, having served as Ohio finance chair for Sen. John McCain in 2008 and as the national finance chair for John Kasich in 2016.
The Cincinnati Enquirer reported in May 2019 that federal prosecutors were seeking to seize a stake in Hauser Private Equity that was held by Singer’s charitable foundation.
At the time, Hauser had not been linked to the scandal.
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