In early 2013, Mikaela Sanford responded to a Craigslist job posting for a small Sacramento company with mundane-sounding responsibilities: communicating with contractors, overseeing data entry and handling client correspondence.
The job led to a felony conviction and a front-row seat to what became known as the Varsity Blues college-admissions cheating scandal.
Ms. Sanford worked for six years at the Key, the company run by William “Rick” Singer that provided standard college counseling and test prep—as well as a side menu of illicit services involving fraud and bribery. She pleaded guilty in 2020 to racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced in May to one year of supervised release and a $67,062 forfeiture order.
Ms. Sanford, 36, testified last fall at the Boston trial of two parents who worked with Mr. Singer, but she hadn’t spoken publicly about the case until a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.