Is Arnold Schwarzenegger Running a College Admissions Scam?

Arnold Schwarzenegger is involved with a college-admissions company that, according toa ream of company documents and the testimony of several tipsters, promises admission to prestigious American schools—including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Dartmouth, and the University of Pennsylvania—in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A tipster tells us that the former governor of California plans to visit Beijing in the second week of September to meet with wealthy Chinese families, who are the company’s sole market.

Schwarzenegger’s new venture is called thePanda Club, which portrays itself as a hybrid study-abroad/business-networking/cultural-tour program aimed at Chinese students planning to go to college in the United States. We’re told he was recently named its “honorary president,” a position held by “a celebrity from the United States Government,” according to the company’s handbook.

The company’s marketing materials do sound a little crazy—there are references to a “super-luxury villa” and “intenstive training in psychological success”—but its guaranteed-admission service, as described by one tipster, seems too insane to believe.

Using a sister company in China called Oxbridge International, the Panda Club’s “VIP” program supposedly connects seats annually slotted to certain “funds”—companies, donors, and so forth—with families willing to pay for them. One tipster, who identified himself as an educator based in Beijing, gave us an account of how this works:Three weeks ago, Schwarzenegger became an official professor at USC, one of the schools listed in the Club’s brochure (for $125,000). And in May, Panda Club representatives posted photos of them meeting with him in an online album called “Inviting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to China (2012)”.

In a telephone conversation with IvyGate, the club’s founder—a Pepperdine professor namedDemosthenes Vardiabasis—denied any arrangement between the Panda Club and the former Governor. However: when asked if Schwarzenegger had any future plans to shop the Club around, in China or elsewhere, Vardiabasis claimed he “did not know,” and told us to ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. Vardiabasis then demanded to see the documents we were talking about, and chastised us for bothering him.

Upon receipt of said documents, Vardiabasis cut off contact, and refused to acknowledge the rest of our phone calls and emails.

Of the schools listed on the price sheet, all but two vociferously denied any knowledge of the Panda Club, or any arrangement by which people can purchase admission. (Yale and Dartmouth did not respond to our request for comment. Neither did Arnold Schwarzenegger.)

熊猫计划目标：

熊猫计划，世界文明史上的大手笔，汇聚中美两国政商名流的人脉资源，重磅推出100余项权威尊贵服务，涵盖留学、生活、就业、投资和商业活动的各个领域，旨在为中国培养能够影响和改变世界的顶尖人才。

1、帮助学生进入美国顶级大学，并监督、辅导其顺利完成学业。
2、培养未来中国乃至世界的政治、经济、商 业、文化艺术或科技界的领袖级人才。
3, 使会员建立, 拓展广泛而且重要的人脉关 系，为将来更极顺畅地进入政界、商界，科技界等打下坚实基础。
4、铺设中美两国在政治、经济、科技等层面的沟通桥梁，把会员培养为连接中美关系.

针对学生的服务项

熊猫俱乐部为学生客户提供高端名校申请、名人会晤、访问学习、专家培训、公益活动、形象塑造等多项服务，360°关注学生的学习和业余文化生活，从智商、情商、逆商等多方面培养学生综合素质。

1、美国Top30名校申请服务。
2、海外名校考察和项目实践，白宫工作见习活动， 提升背景。
3、提供耶鲁大学访问学者机会（大学毕业即可）。
4、聘请优秀教师进行课业辅导，帮助学生顺利毕业。
5、举办有诺贝尔奖获得者参加的讲座。
6、邀请国际政商名人参与专题讨论会。
7、与美国政界要人（前总统、国务卿、议员等）见面、座谈。
8、为有需求的会员联系飞行驾驶和游艇驾驶培训，帮助考取驾照。

9、与世界500强合作，聘资深专家设置专门项目供学生实习。
10、与西点军校、哈佛大学商学院等顶尖学府合作，举行多项 实战型拓展训练。
11、安排专业培训，锻炼学生演讲能力，培养领袖风范。
12、参与社会公益活动，培养爱心和社会责任感。
13、参加国际大型音乐、艺术演出活动，感受世界顶级艺术的魅力。
14、针对家族企业接班人，提供全方位人生规划和国内外投资创业指导。
15、全方位形象塑造，提升傲人背景，树立完美形