Augustin Hunneeus Jr., whose family holdings include Quintessa in Napa Valley and Benton Lane in Oregon, and Marci Palatella, 63, ceo of International Beverage, which owns Preservation Distillery, which claims to be the first 100% pot distilled facility in Bardstown, Ky. She’s married to Lou Palatella,who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s.
They were among 33 parents charges in the largest college-admissions bribery case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. The 33 allegedly paid millions of dollars to help their children get into elite schools – including Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, and Yale.
The indictment says Palatella wired $75,000 to William “Rick” Singer, a college entrance counselor, after Singer helped “facilitate cheating” on her son’s SAT test by bribing test administrators. After the counselor told her the best way to assure her son would get into USC would be through sports, Palatella emailed Singer a photo of her son in his football uniform. Singer sent the photo and the son’s grades and test scores to Laura Janke, a fomer USC assistant soccer coach, the indictment says. Janke created a football profile for the boy that described him as a defensive linesman and long snapper in high school, and a member of “several local and statewide championship teams.”
USC senior associate athletic director Donna Heinel presented the boy as a football recruit to a USC subcommittee for athletic admission. After receipt a conditional acceptance letter, Palatella mailed Heinel a $100,000 check, payable to USC Women’s Athletic Board, with a note: “Our son … is beyond thrilled at the prospect of attending USC as a freshman this fall,” the indictment states.
Huneeus followed pretty much the same path, the indictment says, complete with rigged SAT scores and money paid to Heinel and Jovan Vavic, the water polo coach at USC.
You can read the Justice Department’s press release and other documents here.