David Sidoo
David Sidoo is a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and former professional football player. In the 1980s, Sidoo played for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.
In 2019 Sidoo was named as one of the perpetrators of the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. He was charged by the FBI for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud after he allegedly paid to have his two sons’ college entrance test scores altered.
Biography
Sidoo is of Indian-Canadian descent. From 1978-1982, he attended the University of British Columbia on a football scholarship. At UBC, he played for the school's team, the Thunderbirds.[1]
After graduating university, Sidoo was drafted into the Canadian Football League, becoming the first Indian-Canadian to have made the draft for professional Canadian football.[2] He played professional football for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions until 1988.[3]
After retiring from football, Sidoo started working in the field of brokerage. Sidoo later founded and sold an energy company, American Oil & Gas, to the Hess Corporation.[2] As of early 2019, Sidoo was the CEO of Advantage Lithium, a mining company.[2]
Criminal allegations
In March 2019, Sidoo was named as one of the alleged perpetrators of the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. Multiple sources noted that Sidoo had paid money to illegally aid his two sons in getting accepted into American colleges.[4][5] In one instance, Sidoo paid $100,000 to have a test-taker impersonate his son Dylan Sidoo so that the latter's SAT test scores were improved[6]; according to the FBI indictment, he later paid an additional $100,000 to have his younger son's test taken in the same, potentially fraudulent way.[4] CBC News later reported that Sidoo had also paid a test-taker to fake a high school exam on behalf of his son in 2012.[7] The FBI indictment noted that Sidoo had been in contact with other perpetrators of the college admission scandal in 2018, and in October of that year recorded a phone call in which Sidoo discussed obtaining a GMAT score for his older son, who intended to apply to business school.[8][9]
Sidoo plead not guilty before a federal court in Massachusetts on 15 March 2019.[10]
References
- ^ Mckenzie, Kevin Hinton & Ryan. "BCBusiness". BCBusiness. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ a b c "Advantage Lithium - Management & Directors". www.advantagelithium.com. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ Vancouver's David Sidoo Named in U.S. College Admissions Scandal - Bloomberg
- ^ a b Mar 12, Rhianna Schmunk; March 13, 2019 |. "B.C. philanthropist accused of paying $200K to help sons pass college entrance exams | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
{{cite web}}:|first2=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Brown, Scott; Griffin, Kevin; March 12, Keith Fraser Updated:; 2019 (2019-03-13). "Vancouver's David Sidoo charged in U.S. college-entrance scandal | Vancouver Sun". Retrieved 2019-03-13.
{{cite web}}:|last4=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Glaser, Rebeccah (2019-03-13). "Chapman among universities named in massive college admissions scandal". The Panther Online. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
- ^ Mar 13, Rhianna Schmunk; March 13, 2019 |. "Here's how prosecutors believe David Sidoo allegedly conspired to get his sons into top universities | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
{{cite web}}:|first2=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Sidoo Redacted Indictment". Scribd. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
- ^ March 14, Dan Fumano Updated:; 2019 (2019-03-15). "David Sidoo in 'good state of mind' before court appearance: lawyer | Vancouver Sun". Retrieved 2019-03-15.
{{cite web}}:|last2=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Mar 15, Rhianna Schmunk; March 15, 2019 |. "David Sidoo returning home to Canada after pleading not guilty to fraud charges in U.S. | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved 2019-03-16.
{{cite web}}:|first2=has numeric name (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)