Courtesy of Sam Rubin
Rudy Meredith — the former Yale women’s soccer head coach who was federally charged in an admissions scandal — worked as a cooperating witness since April 2018 while coaching the soccer team through a recruiting process and soccer season, according to court documents.
On Tuesday, the Department of Justice announced that they had charged over 50 individuals involved in what prosecutors are touting as the largest admissions scandal that the Department of Justice has ever prosecuted. The case implicates over 30 parents — including actresses Felicity Huffman, of “Desperate Housewives”, and Lori Loughlin, of “Full House” — who paid bribes to help their children secure admission to elite colleges, including Yale.
Meredith is accused of accepting a $400,000 bribe from William “Rick” Singer — the owner of a for-profit admissions company based in Newport Beach California and the ringleader of the operation — in exchange for the admission of a Yale applicant as a women’s soccer recruit, despite the fact that she did not play soccer. The former coach also allegedly accepted a bribe of $450,000 to do the same for another applicant, outside of Singer’s operation.
Documents refer to Meredith as “CW-3” — cooperating witness 3 — who is described as “an individual who participated in the scheme” who “was employed at relevant times as the head coach of women’s soccer at Yale.” The document goes on to say that Meredith has already agreed to plead guilty to wire fraud, honest services wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit the same crimes. Meredith’s initial court appearance is scheduled for March 28.
According to federal prosecutors, Meredith had been working for authorities since April 2018, “[in the] hope of obtaining leniency when he is sentenced.” He resigned on Nov. 15, after seven months of balancing his duties as a federal cooperating witness and the women’s head coach.
The Department of Justice also claims that Meredith had been working with Singer since April 2015, three years before agreeing to work as a cooperating witness.
Meredith did not respond to request for comment on Wednesday afternoon. University spokesman Tom Conroy did not respond to questions Wednesday regarding whether University officials knew Meredith was cooperating with authorities at the time of his resignation.
In a communitywide email on Tuesday statement, President Peter Salovey said that he does “not believe that any member of the Yale administration or staff other than the charged coach knew about the conspiracy.”
At the time of his resignation, Meredith said that he was looking forward to “new possibilities and begin a different chapter” in his life. He also added that it was the right time “to hand the team over to the next Yale women’s soccer coach who can guide the team into the future.”
The team is now coached by Brendan Faherty, who joined the Elis in December from Stony Brook University.
Bill Gallagher | william.gallagher@yale.edu .
Skakel McCooey | skakel.mccooey@yale.edu .