Hot Pockets Heiress Michelle Janavs Is Sentenced to 5 Months in Prison in College Admissions Scandal
This week, snack food heiress Michelle Janavs became the latest participant in the college admissions scandal to receive her prison sentencing. And, to butcher Gretchen Weiners' perfect line from Mean Girls, "I don't think her father Paul Merage, the co-inventor of Hot Pockets, would be too pleased to hear about this."
In October of 2020, Janavs pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering in association with the scandal, and yesterday, she was sentenced to five months in prison for her crimes. She will also have to serve two years of supervised release after her time in prison and to pay a $250,000 fine. (Given that Janavs's family sold the Hot Pockets brand to Nestlé in 2002 for $2.6 billion, she should be able to swing it.)
Prior to sentencing, prosecutors called Janavs and three others “far and away the most culpable” parents in the scandal.
Specifically, she paid Rick Singer, the man at the center of the fraud, $100,000 to correct her two daughters' ACT test answers, and she also agreed to pay $200,000 to have one of her daughters admitted to USC as an athletic recruit. According to the Associated Press, Janavs was arrested before her daughter was formally admitted.
But Janavs's attorney John Littrell says that while his client understands both the harm and the negative impact of her crime, it "does not define who she is."
"Michelle's gonna be defined by what she's done the rest of her life, and she has dedicated decades of her life to helping exactly the types of kids who were harmed in this case," he said in a statement on her behalf after sentencing.
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