Former Sacramento Client Of College Admissions Scam Mastermind Rick Singer Speaks Out

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A one-time Sacramento client of disgraced college counselor Rick Singer is now speaking out following his arrest and guilty plea in a $25 million college bribery scam.

Alexandra Biering said she has nothing to hide because Singer didn't help her cheat her way into college. Biering has two young children of her own now.

Twenty years ago, Biering was a child herself. A photo shows her in high school, around the time she was applying for colleges, and her parents hired Singer to help.

She got an email from her dad this week who said "check out today's 'Wall Street Journal,'" Biering said. "Is that the Rick Singer that used to come and help you with your college applications?"

Two decades later the same Rick Singer is now at the center of the scandal, pleading guilty to the largest college bribery scheme ever investigated by federal prosecutors.

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"Aside from the grey hair he looked remarkably similar to how he looked in 1998," Biering said.

Biering says Singer never guaranteed to get her into an elite school.

"I never recall him saying that," Biering said.

Back then, he focused his efforts on helping her find a school that was a good fit. She ended up attending the University of San Francisco. Biering says she remembers Singer as intense and always wearing athletic gear.

"There wasn't anything about him that was flashy," Biering said.

Only now does she says her parents recall him as seeking something more.

"I do remember my parents saying, 'he seemed like he was very interested in status,'" Biering said. "It's not something I would have noticed, but they did, in hindsight."

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Biering says Singer was the "go to" college counselor in Sacramento in the 1990s.

"We were a client among thousands, potentially tens-of-thousands in the Sacramento region," Biering said.

This one-time client of Rick Singer, from his early years in the counseling business.

"Clearly something went wrong," Biering said.

Now years later–she is living a full life following a successful college career.

"And for better or for worse, perhaps Rick Singer helped me focus on that, and I guess that's something to be thankful for, and I kind of wish he'd stuck with that," Biering said. "I bet he does too, right now."