Son defends parents' alleged role in college cheating scandal while smoking a 'giant blunt'

Gregory Abbott, founder and chairman of International Dispensing Corporation, leaves after appearing in federal court in New York on bribery charges, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Click through the gallery for reactions to the scandal. less Gregory Abbott, founder and chairman of International Dispensing Corporation, leaves after appearing in federal court in New York on bribery charges, Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Click through the gallery for ... more Photo: Bebeto Matthews, Associated Press Photo: Bebeto Matthews, Associated Press Image 1 of / 27 Caption Close Son defends parents' alleged role in college cheating scandal while smoking a 'giant blunt' 1 / 27 Back to Gallery

Some of the rich people implicated in a sweeping college admissions cheating scandal this week have responded by trying to lie low — like Lori Loughlin's daughter, who returned early from a spring break trip aboard the yacht of the USC board's chairman when news of the cheating scandal broke.

MORE: What we know about the Bay Area residents implicated in college cheating scam

But one Manhattan youth forged a different path, bombastically confronting reporters and defending his parents outside the family's Upper East Side apartment building while smoking "a giant blunt," the New York Post reported this week.

Malcolm Abbott is the son of International Dispensing Corp. founder Gregory Abbott — described in local media reports variously as a "beverage bigwig" and "soup distributor titan" — and his wife Marcia. They live in New York City and Aspen, according to the affidavit.

The Abbotts are alleged to have used the services of the fake nonprofit at the center of the scam to help their daughter cheat on the ACT and SAT subject tests.

In his remarks to reporters this week, young Malcolm Abbott waved a blunt, promoted his nascent career as a rapper (he raps under the name "Billa") and explained that he did not attend college, but appeared to take a page from the Bernie Sanders platform in declaring, "I believe everyone has a right to go to college, man."

"They're blowing this whole thing out of proportion," he reportedly said of the scandal, before handing the reporter a copy of his EP, Cheese and Crackers.

"Pull a heist / Wrong or right / I'm getting mad cash every night / Bringing Fifth Ave to the Heights / And I'm white, old money with a new stack / You where the G's at, we where the Jews at," he raps on the track "Jack Boy."

The title of the EP appears to be a play on Billa's whiteness (the titular "cracker") and wealth (the "cheese"). Her brother's apparent facility with metaphor notwithstanding, the other Abbott child is alleged to have sought the fake nonprofit's help to boost her scores on the Literature SAT subject test, according to the affidavit.

ALSO: How were students in admission scandal able to cheat on SATs so easily?

Charging documents allege that the Abbotts paid $50,000 for a proctor to correct the ACT exam for their daughter, who wanted to go to Duke. They then allegedly paid another $75,000 for a proctor to correct two SAT subject tests for her, the Math II exam and the Literature exam.

"Good thing that she did this for the ACT," the cooperating witness in the case told her mother in a wiretapped phone call, "'cause her score was not exceptional."