FILE - March 15, 2019, David Sidoo, of Vancouver, Canada, leaves following his federal court hearing in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme in Boston. Sidoo pleaded guilty to charges in March and is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, July 15, 2020, for paying to have someone take a college entrance exam in place of his two sons. (Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP, File)
A former Canadian Football League player was sentenced Wednesday to three months in prison for hiring someone take the SATs in place of his two sons.
David Sidoo, who played professional football for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions, lowered his head into his hands and cried as U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton chided him for his actions. Sidoo told the judge he's "deeply ashamed."
"I make no excuses. I broke the law. I pled guilty to a crime and now I must pay for my actions," Sidoo said.
Sidoo appeared before the Boston federal court judges via videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Sidoo was CEO of mining firm Advantage Lithium Corp. when he was arrested last year. He was also a founding shareholder of an oil and gas company that was sold in 2010 for more than $600 million.
Last month, the B.C. government said Sidoo has been stripped of his membership in the Order of British Columbia, a process that began after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud on March 13.