USC fires athletics administrator, water polo coach amid college admissions bribe scandal

A senior athletics official, Donna Heinel, and men’s and women’s water polo head coach Jovan Vavic were fired from the University of Southern California after being accused of taking bribes, the school announced.  (Twitter/University of Southern California)

The University of Southern California (USC) has fired two employees who allegedly accepted enormous bribes in exchange for facilitating the acceptance of dozens of students, the school has said in an official statement.

Donna Heinel, a senior athletics administrator, and Jovan Vavic, men’s and women’s water polo head coach, were axed following an investigation into college admissions that saw such celebrities as Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman arrested on federal charges on Tuesday.

“We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university,” USC said, according to its paper the Daily Trojan. “USC is conducting an internal investigation. Donna Heinel and Jovan Vavic have been terminated and the university will take additional employment actions as appropriate.”

Two more USC athletics employees, women's soccer coaches Laura Janke and Ali Khosroshahin, were indicted, though it is not known yet if they have been fired as a consequence.

Heinel, 57, is accused of accepting a $500,000 bribe from Loughlin, who rose to fame on the popular family sitcom "Full House." Loughlin and her husband were both charged with bribing officials to get their daughter, YouTube "influencer" Olivia Jade Giannulli, into the school.

Senior associate athletics director Donna Heinel and men’s and women’s water polo head coach Jovan Vavic were let go from their positions following an investigation into college admissions that saw celebrities like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman arrested on federal charges on Tuesday (Getty)

Vavic, also 57, is accused of accepting a $250,000 bribe in exchange for declaring two students as recruits for his water polo team in order to get them into USC.

The school's statement added detail on the fired employees' alleged crimes, which spanned at least four years. They are accused of connections to a sprawling admissions bribery scheme led by William Rick Singer.

“On multiple occasions between 2014 and 2018, Singer’s clients made payments of more than $1.3 million to USC accounts controlled by Heinel, typically an account for the USC Women’s Athletic Board,” the documents read. “Singer also entered into a sham consulting agreement with Heinel. … In exchange for the bribe payments, Heinel helped facilitate the admission of more than two dozen students as recruited athletes.”

Singer, through his charitable organization, is accused of receiving $25 million in bribes since 2011 to help the children of wealthy and influential parents gain entry to elite universities including Stanford, Yale and USC. On Tuesday, he pleaded guilty to four charges against him and admitted to his crimes. "All of these things, and many more things, I did," he said, according to CNN.

"I created a side door that would guarantee families would get in."

Records indicate that fake profiles were created to label both of Loughlin's daughters as women's crew recruits, despite having no history of rowing athletically or being listed currently as on the USC women's crew team. Olivia Jade Giannulli, left, Isabella Giannulli, right (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

According to records, Singer allegedly made payments to Vavic for students to be listed as members of the water polo team and gain entry to the university, but never participated in any sports. Vavic was reportedly taken into custody in Honolulu on Tuesday.

A similar situation may have been in play with Loughlin's daughter Olivia, who is among students for whom fake profiles were allegedly created to allow her to appear as an athletic recruit. Fake profiles were said to have been created to label both of Loughlin's daughters as women's crew recruits, though they had no history of rowing athletically and weren't listed as current members of the USC women's crew team.

According to court documents, things began to fall apart for Singer's organization when a counselor became suspicious about her admission based on her crew involvement, because she did not play the sport. This apparently led to a public confrontation between the counselor and Loughlin's husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, leading Heinel to leave him a voicemail asking that such an occurrence not happen again.

Loughlin's daughter Olivia currently attends USC and documents her time there on her YouTube page, which has nearly two million subscribers. In one video, she said she "really doesn't care about school," and wanted to go to attend parties and game days.

At least 50 high -profile business owners, celebrities and prominent coaches were charged on Tuesday in connection to the bribery sting, which U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling has labeled the “largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice.”