DISGRACED Vancouver businessman David Sidoo, whose membership in the Order of British Columbia was terminated June 12, will be in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 15 for his sentence hearing in the U.S. college admissions scandal.
The former Canadian Football League player pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a U.S. federal court on March 13. The plea deal is for Sidoo to serve 90 days in prison and pay a $250,000 fine. It also includes a year of supervised relief. But it must be approved by the judge.
Last year in March, Sidoo was accused of paying William ‘Rick’ Singer, who prosecutors say was behind the scheme to help wealthy families get their children’s entrance to prestigious U.S. schools, to have Mark Riddell write SATs for his sons in 2011 and 2012, besides a high school graduation exam. The older son got admission to a private university in California. The younger son went to the University of California-Berkeley.
Sidoo was appointed to the Order of B.C. on July 26, 2016. The Provincial Symbols and Honours Act governs nominations, appointments, resignations and terminations in the Order of B.C., the province’s highest honour. According to the act, the chancellor of the Order may terminate a person’s membership on the recommendation of the advisory council and with the approval of the executive council. This process is initiated when a member of the Order is convicted of a criminal offence or when their conduct undermines the credibility and integrity of the Order.
Sidoo was a highly successful businessman, a leading philanthropist and a highly decorated athlete. He is one of the few who have been inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame, the BC Football Hall of Fame and the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
He captained UBC to the university’s first Vanier Cup national championship in 1982 and played six seasons in the Canadian Football League CFL (1983-89) with Saskatchewan Roughriders and BC Lions.
Sidoo also resurrected the high school football program in New Westminster Secondary. He has invested millions of dollars in youth sport across British Columbia, including the Canada Basketball Foundation skills camps, supporting Olympic athletes in training and youth sports scholarships.
The Sidoo Field at Thunderbird Stadium was named in his honour. But now the name has been removed.
