Toronto, March 28: Yale University, which ranks amongst the top of the Ivy League school chart has expelled a student whose parents have been charged with paying a bribe to get her in. Yale is the first university to take such an action after the admissions scandal erupted earlier this month.

US authorities have till date charged 50 people in a scam, which was set up to help children of the rich Americans gain entry into top US universities. Other top schools like the University of Southern California, Stanford and Georgetown, were targeted in the scam which was allegedly organised by mastermind Rick Singer.

The admissions scandal uncovered an elaborate setup which included sports coaches who gave false recommendations, university examiners who manipulated test scores or even wrote tests and administrators who accepted bribes to help the student gain admission in to the Ivy League university. 33 parents have accused of paying bribes totalling some US $6.5 million to guarantee admission for their children.

In a statement on its website, Yale said it had first learnt about the scheme in mid-November, when it was approached by the Boston US Attorney's Office requesting information about head women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith.

According to the university, Meredith, who left Yale just before it was approached by authorities, provided fraudulent athletic recommendations to "two applicants only."

One of the two was accepted into Yale in January 2018, after her relatives paid USD 1.2 million in bribes according to the charge sheet against Meredith.

The coach also received USD 400,000 from a go-between who organised the arrangement though. "Yale investigated the allegations, and the admission of the student who received a fraudulent endorsement has been rescinded," the university said.

The university said federal privacy law and Yale policy prevented it from naming the students, who were identified as "Applicant 1" and "Applicant 2" on the indictment.

Yale added it was conducting its own review to learn whether others had been involved and will retain external advisors to recommend changes to prevent efforts to defraud the admissions process in future.

Sports coaches from other high-ranking public and private colleges, including UCLA, the University of Southern California and Georgetown have also been implicated in the affair.

The scandal has ensnared celebrities including actresses Desperate Housewives stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin as well as top industry CEOs. (With Agency inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 28, 2019 02:49 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).