The Chinese woman who allegedly paid college admissions schemer Rick Singer $6.5 million to get her daughter accepted to Stanford University thought she was making a donation for scholarships, staff and the school’s athletic program, her lawyer said Thursday.
The mother of Yusi Zhao, identified only as Mrs. Zhao, confirmed to the Wall Street Journal in a statement that she made the payment to Singer in April 2017 after being introduced to him by a former financial adviser at Morgan Stanley.
“Her generosity has been taken advantage of,” lawyer Vincent W.C. Law told the paper in a statement.
Zhao thought she was making a donation to Singer’s foundation, the statement said, adding that she was unfamiliar with the US college admissions process.
“This generous act was not only done for the good of the school and its students, but also done out of the love and support of Yusi by a caring mother,” according to the statement. “The donation is in the same nature as those that many affluent parents have been doing openly to prestigious universities.”
Singer was arrested in March for masterminding the wide-ranging college admissions scandal, which snared actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman.
A total of 33 parents originally were charged in the scheme in March, alongside school officials and Singer.
Prosecutors say the parents paid Singer vast sums to help secure their spoiled scions a spot at top colleges — which he achieved by either bribing test officials to doctor their entrance exams or paying off coaches to name the kids as sham athletic recruits.
Law did not immediately return a request for comment from The Post.
Additional reporting by Ruth Brown