Marci Palatella, co-owner of Bardstown, Ky., Preservation Distillery, known for its Very Olde Saint Nick and Rare Perfection bottlings, agreed to plead guilty to paying $500,000 to bribe her son into the University of Southern California.
Under a plea agreement, she is expected to spend up to six weeks in prison and to pay $250,000 in fines and serve two years of supervised release and 500 hours of community service.
The wife of former San Francisco 49ers football player Lou Patella she was caught up in the sprawling Operation Varsity Blues is the 46th defendant to plead guilty in the case.
Prosecutors said she conspired with California college counselor William “Rick” Singer and others to pay $500,000 to secure her son’s admission to USC as a football recruit, “even though he was not actually being recruited and would not play on the USC football team.”