LA real estate developer Robert Flaxman, 66, hanged himself at his Malibu home

LA real estate developer Robert Flaxman, who was charged in the college admissions scandal alongside Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, has killed himself.

The 66-year-old from Los Angeles was found hanged in his Malibu home last week after his friends requested a welfare check.

Authorities told TMZ no note was found but he had a history of depression and coroners marked the case as closed.

In 2019, Flaxman was sentenced to one month in prison for paying $75,000 to help inflate his daughter's college entrance exam score, after pleading guilty to a single count of fraud and conspiracy.

He was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one month in prison, one year of supervised release and was also ordered to complete 250 hours of community service and to pay a fine of $50,000.

He is one of 53 people charged in a widespread college bribery scheme known as the Varsity Blues scandal.

Flaxman admitted to conspiring with William 'Rick' Singer to have his daughter's ACT exam corrected by a proctor, thereby fraudulently inflating the score, The Los Angeles Times reported.

He did so by first taking steps to secure extended time for his daughter to take the ACT.

That was followed by a petition to move the exam to a test center in Houston, Texas, that Singer 'controlled' through one of his proctors.

Flaxman's daughter and the child of another client of Singer both took the ACT with the assistance of a co-conspirator.

Harvard alumnus Mark Riddell assisted in answering exam questions and instructed the students to answer different questions incorrectly so that the ACT would not suspect cheating. 

Flaxman's daughter used the score to apply to several schools and ultimately enrolled at one of them, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a sentence of eight months in prison, one year of supervised release and a $40,000 fine.