The University of California at Los Angeles. Associated Press/Damian Dovarganes

Xiaoning Sui, 48, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, was arrested in Spain on Monday and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling said Sui agreed to pay the scheme's ringleader, William "Rick" Singer, $400,000 to get her son into the University of California at Los Angeles as a soccer recruit, despite not playing soccer.

In November 2018, Sui's son was admitted into UCLA as a recruited soccer player with a 25% scholarship, Lelling said. He never played soccer at the school.

Sui is the 52nd person to be charged in the college-admissions scandal, in which parents paid Singer to bribe college coaches and test administrators to help their children get into elite universities.

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A Canadian-based Chinese woman was arrested in connection to Operation Varsity Blues on Monday, marking the 52nd indictment since the college-admissions scandal broke in March.

Xiaoning Sui, 48, of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, was arrested in Spain and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to a news release from US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling. Court documents tied to Sui's case were unsealed on Monday.

Court documents said Sui agreed to pay the scheme's ringleader,William "Rick" Singer, $400,000 to get her son into the University of California at Los Angeles as a soccer recruit, despite not playing soccer.

According to the indictment, initially filed in March and unsealed on Monday, Sui provided Singer with her son's school transcripts and photos of him playing tennis. Coconspirator Laura Janke, a former USC soccer coach who has pleaded guilty in the scheme, then fabricated a soccer profile for the teen that showed him playing for private soccer clubs in Canada.

In October 2018, Sui wired Singer $100,000 to Singer in the name of his sham charitable organization, the Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF), after Singer instructed her that it would be "paid to the coach at UCLA" in exchange for a letter of intent from the UCLA soccer coach, Jorge Salcedo, court documents said.

In November 2018, Sui's son was admitted into UCLA as a recruited soccer player with a 25% scholarship, court documents said.

Read more: Felicity Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days in prison for her role in the college-admissions scandal

After her son's admission to the school, Sui wired KWF an additional $300,000, according to court documents. Her son never played soccer at the school.

A month before Sui was charged, the $100,000 transaction was investigated by the Los Angeles Times because it had been detailed in an indictment charging Salcedo. Sui was not named in the indictment, but people familiar with the case named her to The Times.

Sui is the 52nd person to be charged in the college-admissions scandal, in which parents paid Singer to bribe college coaches and test administrators to help their children get into elite universities.

Actor Felicity Huffman became the first parent to be sentenced in the scheme on Friday. She was sentenced to 14 days in jail after pleading guilty to paying $15,000 to have her daughter's SAT exam answers falsified.

Sui is being detained in Spain. She faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Authorities will seek her extradition to Boston to face charges, Lelling said.

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