Operation Varsity Blues

College Admissions Scandal: Charges filed against Bay Area's Marci Palatella

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Nearly a dozen Bay Area parents involved in college admissions scam

The Bay Area parents named in the college admissions bribery scheme were entrepreneurs, investors and even a vineyard owner.More than a dozen Bay Area residents have been charged in the college admissions cheating scam, with five pleading guilty so far.

HILLSBOROUGH, Calif. -- Operation Varsity Blues is the largest college admissions cheating scam ever prosecuted in the United States, and more than a dozen Bay Area residents have been charged in connection with it.

LIST: These Bay Area residents have been charged in alleged college admissions scam

Healdsburg resident Marci Palatella reportedly laughed with her husband "every day" about cheating their child's way into college, saying "it was worth every cent."

This undated image shows Marci Palatella.

Marci is the CEO of a liquor distribution company. On her Facebook page, it says she runs Preservation Distillery Bardstown in Kentucky and is from San Francisco.

READ THE FULL CHARGING DOCUMENT HERE (PAGES 137-143)

According to an article from a Kentucky Business Journal, she's married to former San Francisco 49ers football legend Lou Palatella, who played for the team back in the 1950s.

She's been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and Honest Services Mail fraud.

Marci appeared Tuesday in San Francisco, has a $1 million unsecured bond and will appear again March 29 in Boston.

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