An internationally known dental specialist with a longtime practice in Ventura County is accused of paying bribes to enroll his daughter at USC as part of a national college admissions scandal.

Dr. Homayoun Zadeh, associate professor and researcher at the University of Southern California, is set to appear in federal court in Boston on Wednesday to face charges of conspiring to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. A federal complaint alleged the Calabasas resident agreed to pay $100,000 over six months to gain admission for his daughter.

The periodontist is set to appear before Judge M. Page Kelley on the same afternoon as several other parents accused in the scandal, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin as well as Loughlin’s husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli.

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According to the scheme alleged by the FBI, Zadeh’s daughter was portrayed as an elite lacrosse player on two Los Angeles area youth teams, although she did not play competitively.

The complaint alleged USC Senior Associate Athletic Director Donna Heinel presented Zadeh’s daughter to an admission subcommittee as a lacrosse recruit. It said Zadeh conspired to bribe Heinel, who has since been terminated by USC.

Zadeh’s Boston-area lawyers didn’t respond to phone calls or email messages. His dental offices in Ventura and Woodland Hills remained open, with a person at the latter office saying Zadeh would be out until early April.

Zadeh, a member of the Santa Barbara-Ventura County Dental Society, first opened a periodontal practice in Oxnard and then moved the business to Ventura. His Brighton Specialty Dental Group on Ralston Street includes several dentists. An employee said Zadeh worked there part-time.

Once a graduate student at USC, he served as a research lab director and former periodontology chair at USC’s Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry.

He was placed on leave, said USC Interim President Wanda Austin in a letter to the campus community.

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“This leave is a required procedural step in the process for terminating tenured faculty,” Austin wrote.

The complaint alleged Zadeh made payments related to the alleged admission scheme totaling $55,000 from May 2017 to September 2018. The complaint cited an email from Zadeh’s wife, saying they refinanced their house to make payments.

It also referenced a text message from Zadeh saying his daughter felt pressured to make a decision on attending USC.

“His daughter was concerned that ‘she did not get in on her own merits,’” the complaint said, quoting Zadeh’s text. “I have not shared anything about our arrangement but she somehow senses it.”

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