Stanford University. (File photo: VCG)

Stanford University said it had expelled a student involved in a fraud case on April 2.

The student left the school on March 30. However, Stanford declined to disclose the student’s name. The Stanford Daily speculated that the student was Yusi Zhao.

The Los Angeles Times quoted "sources familiar with the case” as saying the former Stanford student suspected of being involved in the recruitment case is Yusi Zhao (Molly). She enrolled at Stanford in the spring of 2017.

Her family paid $6.5 million in “service fees” to the main suspect in the case, William Singer.

Yusi Zhao. (File photo: Facebook)

The newspaper reported that in order for Zhao to be admitted to Stanford, Singer "packaged" Zhao as a professional junior sailor by helping Zhao forge certificates, but no evidence suggests that Zhao has any sailing experience. According to Eric Boer, a prosecutor in the case, Zhao was not identified as a "student athlete." However, he also admitted that Zhao's eventual admission to Stanford was partly due to "her fake sailing certificate.”

Stanford spokesman E.J. Miranda told Los Angeles Times that it was Singer, not Stanford, who allegedly received the $6.5 million payment. $770,000 was donated to Stanford’s sailing program through Singer’s charity foundation. The amount has three sources. The first $110,000 and the second $160,000 came from two students. Both payments went to the former Stanford sailing head coach in exchange for letters of recommendation, but neither student ultimately completed the admissions process and was accepted to Stanford.

The third donation, $500,000, came from Zhao. But Stanford did not receive the donation until months after Zhao enrolled. “The student never had an affiliation with Stanford’s sailing program, nor did the student have an athletic recommendation as a recruited student-athlete,” Stanford said in a statement Monday, adding that Zhao's admission had nothing to do with the donation, and that Zhao did not join any of Stanford's sports teams.

Zhao Tao, chairman of Buchang Pharmaceuticals. (File photo: Sino-International Entrepreneurs Federation)

The Stanford Daily speculated that the student's father was Zhao Tao, chairman of Buchang Pharmaceuticals, a well-known Chinese medicine company. Her mother released a statement through her lawyer saying that she and her daughter were victims of Singer’s scheme, and she had believed the $6.5 million was a legitimate donation to Stanford.

Many universities in the United States were involved in the admissions fraud case including Yale University and Stanford University in March this year. The Wall Street Journal reported that two Chinese families were involved in the US admissions fraud case. The two families paid more than the other 33 parents who are facing the same allegation.

Singer has pleaded guilty to charges that he planned to bribe the coaches of Stanford sports teams and falsified scores on entrance exams for students.

(Compiled by Wang Xiangyu)