The SATs were rigged, the tennis recruits couldn’t play and Aunt Becky of Full House and Felicity Huffman (Desperate Housewives) are facing jail time.
The biggest college admissions scandal in U.S. history wasn’t pulled off by a criminal mastermind—it was run by a college consultant with a fake nonprofit and a playbook of bribes, fake athletes, and Photoshopped faces.
“Operation Varsity Blues” breaks down how Rick Singer created a “side door” into elite universities that had nothing to do with grades, test scores, or talent.
Note: You can call this a docudrama. But there’s enough real footage that I’m including it here as a documentary.
Trailer for “Operation Varsity Blues”
You Can’t Make This Sh*t Up
- Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli paid $500,000 to get their daughters into USC as crew recruits—despite neither one rowing competitively. Olivia Jade even posted YouTube videos saying she didn’t care about school.
- Students were Photoshopped onto action shots to look like elite athletes. One “basketball player” got his height changed from 5’5” to 6’1”.
- Rick Singer claimed to have helped more than 750 families cheat the admissions process. He called his method “the side door.”
Watch “Operation Varsity Blues”
You can watch “Operation Varsity Blues” on Netflix here.
It’s a Netflix Original so it should stay there.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 6.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes: 74/100 (Users); 88/100 (Critics)
Director’s Note: Chris Smith directs this one. He’s a favorite director of mine who’s also directed these awesome docs:
- “American Movie” (which I rank 96/100!),
- “Sr.” (Robert Downey Jr. and Dad) – I gave that a 91/100 )
- “Mr. McMahon” (91/100)
- “Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives” (90/100),
- “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” (89/100)
He also Exec-Produced “Tiger King” (95/100).
Release Date: March 17, 2021 (Netflix)
My Review of “Operation Varsity Blues”
The Setup
Between 2011 and 2018, Rick Singer ran a scam so big that even Aunt Becky (Lori Loughlin) got indicted.
He offered rich families a “side door” into elite colleges—by faking their kids’ test scores, bribing coaches, and Photoshopping kids onto athletes’ bodies.
At the center: Singer’s fake charity, which took in more than $25 million. He got busted when the FBI stumbled onto a $450,000 bribe to Yale’s soccer coach—and Singer flipped, recording hundreds of calls that helped bring down 50+ parents, coaches, and school officials.
More Highlights from the Doc
- Singer told parents they could pay to have their kids diagnosed with “learning differences” just to get extra time on the SAT—then he bribed a proctor $10,000 to fix their answers after the test.
- Singer bribed coaches in low-profile sports—water polo, sailing, fencing—because those teams often fly under the radar and have smaller budgets.
- Huffman paid $15,000 to have her daughter’s SAT answers corrected. She served 11 days of a 14-day sentence.
- Singer disguised bribes as “donations” to his nonprofit, so parents got tax write-offs for their crimes.
- Some parents paid as much as $6.5 million for admission through this scam—often believing this was a better investment than the traditional “back door” (aka million-dollar campus donations).
- Singer was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in 2023, but was released in 2024—and tried to reenter the admissions game (seriously).
Cameos
- Lori Loughlin (Aunt Becky from “Full House”) and Felicity Huffman (of “Desperate Housewives”) were two of the most famous parents indicted.
- Olivia Jade (Loughlin’s daughter) became a lightning rod after she posted about her college life and influencer gigs while skipping class.
- John Vandemoer (former Stanford sailing coach) speaks candidly about how he was drawn into the scheme despite not pocketing any money himself.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- The FBI only discovered Singer because of a totally unrelated securities fraud case—they flipped one guy, who led them to Yale, which led them to Singer.
- The doc uses dramatic reenactments, with Matthew Modine playing Rick Singer. Dialogue comes straight from FBI wiretap transcripts.
- Singer promoted the “side door” as a cheaper and more guaranteed way into elite schools than the “back door” of legal fundraising.
- Singer’s nonprofit, the Key Worldwide Foundation, was never really investigated for tax fraud—despite issuing receipts for bribes as “charity donations.”
Wrap Up
This is a true crime doc without murder—but with plenty of white-collar scheming. If you want to understand how college admissions really work, this one pulls back the curtain.
Thanks for reading!
Rob Kelly, Chief Maniac, Daily Doc