WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Robert Flaxman, a real estate developer who paid 75,000 U.S. dollars to rig his daughter's ACT scores, was sentenced on Friday to one month in jail, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts.
He becomes the 10th parent facing prison life in a massive college admission scam rocking elite universities in the United States.
Flaxman, appearing in federal court in Boston on Friday to receive his sentence, also got 250 hours of community service and a 50,000-dollar fine.
He was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and pleaded guilty in May, according to local media reports.
Flaxman's attorneys said their client "makes no excuses for his conduct" in the sentencing memo.
"He knew his actions were illegal when he took them. And he knows that he was no more entitled to break the law to help his daughter than any other parent whose child is at risk," the attorneys said.
"But desperate people do desperate things. He is ashamed that he was weak when most others facing similar situations remain strong; and he is deeply apologetic for putting his own interests over those of other students and parents," they said.
More than 30 parents were charged in connection to the scandal, including "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty in May to federal charges, admitting that she shelled out thousands of U.S. dollars to a fixer who helped boost her daughter's college admission hopes.
She reported to a federal prison in Northern California on Tuesday to start a 14-day sentence.
Prominent schools such as Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, and Georgetown University, among others, were implicated in the far-reaching probe, nicknamed Operation Varsity Blues, which was disclosed earlier this year.
