[Alberta's Child]

From what I can tell, the parents of the kids who were admitted under false pretenses were all charged with "honest services fraud" -- a federal crime that has nothing to do with a case like this, and is in fact a total farce when applied to cases that don't involve public officials.

For example ... any Freeper who posts under a screen name could be charged with "honest services fraud" using the same legal basis as the DOJ used in those cases.

[SoCal Pubbie]

In addition to the false pretenses, people were bribed, were they not? Singer at least was running a multi-state con that included wire fraud, money laundering, and even tax fraud.

From what I can tell, the statute does not apply to only public officials.

“Although the law is most often applied to corrupt public officials, several federal courts have upheld honest services fraud convictions of private individuals who breached a fiduciary duty to another, such as an employer.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honest_services_fraud