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Palo Alto Couple Paid $25K To Have Proctor Take Their Son's SAT For Him

PALO ALTO (KPIX 5) -- Among those charged in the largest college admissions scandal filed in U.S. court, 13 of them are high-powered Bay Area parents. One couple from Palo Alto paid thousands of dollars to boost their son's SAT.

Dr. Gregory Colburn and his wife Amy are among the 33 defendants identified as "wealthy parents" accused of making the bribes. KPIX 5 approached Dr. Colburn in in the driveway of his Palo Alto home on Wednesday, but he didn't return comment when asked about the allegations.

Colburn then returned inside his home, where he remained for the rest of the afternoon.

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Court documents allege that the Colburns paid the Key Foundation, which was run by William Singer, $25,000 in cash and stock. Singer reportedly had the Colburns' son fly from Palo Alto to the West Hollywood Test Center to "take" the SAT.

Court documents state that a co-conspirator, who was the exam's supposed proctor, sat and took the test in his place.

In October, Dr. Colburn was warned in a phone call that the IRS was auditing the Key Foundation. The FBI was listening into the call:

"What I am telling them is that your payment essentially went to our foundation to help undeserved kids," said a cooperating witness.

"Right. Okay," said Colburn.

Stanford University sent out an email to all of its alumni acknowledging what happened, saying they take it very seriously and that they hope to regain lost trust.

USC also said they're taking the incident seriously and that they're reviewing each student case-by-case to see if any of them have been involved in this scheme.

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