LOS ANGELES – An L.A. businessman who admitted to paying $250,000 to have his son admitted to USC as a water polo recruit, despite never having actually played the sport, was sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday.
Devin Sloane, who was sentenced in federal court in Boston, was also ordered to pay a $95,000 fine and perform 500 hours of community service.
Sloane, who is the founder of a drinking and wastewater systems company, pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit fraud and honest services mail fraud.
His guilty plea came on the same day as that of Desperate Housewives start Felicity Huffman. Huffman was sentenced earlier this month to 14 days.
According to prosecutors, Sloane paid out more than $250,000 -- largely to Rick Singer, the Newport Beach businessman who is the admitted ringleader of the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal. The money was put toward facilitating his son's admission into USC as a water polo recruit.
Court documents revealed that Sloane went as far as to purchase water polo gear and to hire a graphic designer to create an image of his son appearing to play water polo -- in an effort to portray him as a member of the Italian junior national water polo team.
Prosecutors had called for Sloane to serve a year in prison.
City New Service contributed to this report.