Seven Arrested in SAT Cheating Ring at Top 100 Public School

At one of the most prestigious and competitive public high schools in America, the SAT exam can be a daunting and stressful experience. That is if you actually taking it. NBC New York reports that six current anf former students of Great Neck North High School have been arrested for paying one 19 year-old, who was also arrested, to take their SAT exam.

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Now a student at Emory University, 19-year-old Sam Eshaghoff is alleged to have been paid to take the SAT for six different individuals between 2010 and 2011, at $1,500 to $2,500 per student.

Eshaghoff transfered from University of Michigan to Emory after his freshman year, and was arrested Tuesday charged with scheme to defraud, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation. If convicted of all charges he could spend the next four years behind bars. NBC reports that the six students were all released on their own recognizance.

The six students registered to take the test at different schools then Great Neck so their faces would not be known by the proctors. School administrators discovered the fraud after investigating six students who took the test at other schools and had large discrepancies between their academic performance records and SAT scores.

The DA’s Office is investigating whether similar SAT scams have occurred in at least two other Nassau County high schools.