BOSTON – Xiaoning Sui, a mother from Canada who was arrested last fall in Spain, pleaded guilty in federal court Friday for agreeing to pay $400,000 to get her son admitted into UCLA as a fake soccer recruit.

She's the 31st defendant out of 53 charged in the nation's college admissions scandal – and the 21st parent – to plead guilty in deals with prosecutors rather than face trial.

Sui, a 49-year-old Chinese national and resident of Surrey, British Columbia, spent more than five months in a Spanish prison amid a slow U.S. extradition process following her Sept. 17 arrest while on vacation Madrid.

Sui arrived in court wearing a gray hooded sweatsuit, escorted by a U.S. marshal with her hands cuffed. Her sister watched proceedings from the front row of the gallery.

Sui pleaded guilty to one count of federal programs bribery before U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock. He said he planned to review a pre-sentencing report before deciding whether to accept the plea.

“Yes, your honor, I do understand,” Sui said through a translator when the judge asked whether she grasped the charges against her.

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In a plea agreement filed with the court on Jan. 27, prosecutors recommended no additional prison time other than what she served in Spain. They also recommended one year of supervised release and a fine determined by the court.

The judge set her sentencing for May 19 and her bond at $250,000. She planned to fly back Friday evening to Canada and was granted restricted travel between the U.S. and her home country.

Only two other parents charged in the college admissions scandal received prison time longer than what Sui served awaiting extradition.

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Martin Weinberg, Sui's attorney, called the plea agreement "fair, equitable and proportional" with the allegations against her.

Federal programs bribery carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 as well as restitution and forfeiture payments.

Outlining the government's case, U.S. Assistant Attorney Eric Rosen said the mastermind of the admissions scheme, Rick Singer, told Sui through a translator in an August 2018 phone conversation her son would be "guaranteed" entry into UCLA with a $400,000 payment that would require Singer to write his application in a "special way."

Sui provided Singer with photographs of her son playing tennis and his high school transcript. Prosecutors said Singer then sent the materials to Laura Janke, a former assistant women's soccer coach at the University of Southern California and an alleged co-conspirator he used to help create falsified athletic profiles.

"This young man will be a soccer player from Vancouver for UCLA," Singer wrote to Janke in an email.

Janke's fabricated profile for Sui's son described him as a top player for two private soccer clubs in Canada, according to prosecutors. It also included photos of a different individual playing soccer.

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Prosecutors said Singer forwarded the profile to former head USC women's soccer coach Ali Khosroshahin and Jorge Salcedo, UCLA's head men's soccer coach. Salcedo later passed the profile and the student's high school transcript to UCLA athletic administrators to process the recruitment, prosecutors said. Khosroshahin pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the admissions scheme while Salcedo is fighting charges.

Prosecutors said in October 2018 – after Singer already had started cooperating with federal investigators – he instructed Sui to wire him $100,000 to be “paid to the coach at UCLA” in exchange for a letter of intent from the UCLA soccer coach.

Sui later wired $100,000 to a bank account in Massachusetts in the name of Singer's sham nonprofit, The Key Worldwide Foundation.

“Yes, it happened like that," Sui told the judge through her translator.

Prosecutors and Sui's defense team dispute whether she actually paid the additional $300,000. In the original indictment charging Sui, prosecutors said she made the payment to Singer's nonprofit after her son was formally admitted into UCLA as a recruited soccer player on Nov. 5, 2018. The recruit also was awarded a 25% scholarship by UCLA, according to prosecutors.

But the plea agreement did not reference the $300,000.

Singer's network of clients extended overseas into China. Although Sui is the first Chinese national charged in the admission case, a mother from China, Yusi Zhao, admitted to paying Singer $6.5 million to facilitate her daughter's entry into Stanford University. Zhao, who has not been charged, said she was duped into thinking she was making a donation to the school.

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After Sui's September arrest, Tod Tamberg, a UCLA spokesman, told USA TODAY the university "took immediate corrective action" when prosecutors first announced the blockbuster "Varsity Blues" case last March.

Citing federal law, UCLA declined to comment on the status of Sui's son. But Tamberg said the university can revoke scholarship offers of any student or dismiss any enrolled student who is found to have "misrepresented information on their application."

"UCLA is not aware of any currently enrolled student-athletes who are under suspicion by the DOJ."

Fifteen parents charged with crimes connected to Singer's college scheme continue to fight charges, including actress Lori Loughlin. Her trial could begin as early as October.

Reach Joey Garrison and on Twitter @joeygarrison.