Interesting case. Although, I'm not sure I agree that what the guy did amounted to rape, which Olivia was quick to describe it as. Immoral and repulsive, the guy is clearly a creep, and arguably there should be some kind of legislation and punishment to hold people like that accountable, but I think it does a disservice to the crime of rape to conflate this kind of impersonation.
I think the situation was all the more grey (rather than black and white) when you factor in these particular victims, who were trying to circumvent a meritocratic system for favourable treatment of their kids' applications - what those women did was effectively prostitution as bribery. They raised a lot of the opposing views through Tutuola and the Defense Attourney, but the latter was written a little too much like a pantomime character, in my opinion. Certainly an interesting legal area.
Hah, that was a savage closing argument from the defense attorney. Completely trashing her own client.
I don't think this was rape, either. Shitty guy and shitty mothers, but not rape.
Review by hannahBlockedParent2022-03-03T06:43:25Z
when it comes to the gray areas that svu explores i usually see both sides and lean one way or another. this isn't one where i can see the 'it's rape' side. in the case barba mentioned about the twin brother, that i can see—it's a clear misrepresentation of an intimate partner that the victim would plausibly have no way of predicting. in this situation, yeah, i see it as a violation of someone's (tenuous) trust, but bribing university officials is as much a crime as identity fraud is, so if anything this was a case of two people trying to commit a crime. for once i kind of think a grumpy judge was actually right—this wasn't something to grandstand on. i get that a lot of new legislation comes about due to the way landmark court cases go, but this was hardly a landmark type of case.
also: a quick google search tells me that identity theft is considered a felony punishable up to 15 years in prison under the federal definition of the crime. prosecute the man for identity fraud, and his partner in crime for nonconsensual taping of a sexual encounter, both of them hopefully get convicted and serve some time for being human garbage.
but ultimately i think the moral of the story is don't try to get your kid into college using your sex appeal or your money, it's shady and your kid is the one that suffers your bad life choices? right??