Bay Area woman who lied about son's race gets 3 weeks in college admissions scandal

Marjorie Klapper of Menlo Park, center, leaves the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston on March 29, 2019. Marjorie Klapper of Menlo Park, center, leaves the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston on March 29, 2019. Photo: Boston Globe/Boston Globe Via Getty Images Photo: Boston Globe/Boston Globe Via Getty Images Image 1 of / 62 Caption Close Bay Area woman who lied about son's race gets 3 weeks in college admissions scandal 1 / 62 Back to Gallery

Marjorie Klapper, a Menlo Park jewelry business owner, was sentenced to three weeks in federal prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to her role in the sweeping college admissions scandal.

In May, Klapper, 51, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit fraud. According to a federal complaint, she paid Rick Singer, the orchestrator of the scam, in 2017 to get her son a personalized ACT exam administered by one of Singer's proctors. The teen got a 30 out of a possible 36. Klapper then sent $15,000 to Singer's nonprofit and wrote it off as a charitable donation.

Her son was also falsely listed as African American, Latino, and the first in his family to attend college on his college applications in the hopes it would increase his chances of being admitted.

"Klapper briefly hesitated to describe her son as a first-generation college student, not because she believed it was wrong, (assistant U.S. attorney Justin) O’Connell said, but because she wanted to be sure the advantage he would gain by pretending to be the first in his family to attend college would carry more weight than his legacy status at his father’s alma mater," reported the Los Angeles Times.

For her part, Klapper has denied knowledge of the lie about her son's race. Her attorneys claim Singer and his assistant changed his race on the applications.

Klapper is the co-owner of M&M Bling, a jewelry store in Palo Alto. In a 2011 feature for InMenlo, her business was described as selling "diamonds by the yard."

"Our prices are at least a third of the price of Tiffany’s," she said at the time.

She faced up to 20 years in prison, but her attorneys argued she should only be sentenced to home confinement due to the "shock and humiliation" of her arrest and the "massive, international public shaming" she has experienced since news of the admissions scandal broke in March.

Klapper is the eighth parent to be sentenced in the case. Seven have received short prison sentences.

Felicity Huffman, who was given two weeks, began her prison sentence on Tuesday at Federal Correctional Institution Dublin, a Bay Area women's prison known for its decidedly un-prison-like amenities.

Katie Dowd is an SFGATE Senior Digital Manager. Contact her at katie.dowd@sfgate.com