Bill McGlashan, a founding partner of private equity giant TPG Growth and a co-founder of STX Entertainment, has been fired following his indictment Tuesday in the college admissions scandal that has rocked the country.
TPG confirmed McGlashan’s ouster in a statement Thursday. Representatives for McGlashan maintained that the executive resigned his post around 1 p.m. PT, an hour before he was fired. TPG is a majority owner in CAA.
“Bill McGlashan has been terminated for cause from his positions with TPG and Rise effective immediately. After reviewing the allegations of personal misconduct in the criminal complaint, we believe the behavior described to be inexcusable and antithetical to the values of our entire organization. As we stated in the previous announcement of Mr. McGlashan’s administrative leave, Jim Coulter will take over managing partner responsibilities for TPG Growth and Rise,” TPG said.
McGlashan’s resignation letter to his TPG partners noted the hastiness of his departure and indicated his concern about securing a payout for his interests in the company.
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“I am doing so without having worked out our financial relationship and without prejudice to my financial rights,” McGlashan wrote. “You have told me you will act fairly, and I am grateful.”
McGlashan’s ouster is the latest fallout from the indictments that have sparked a tidal wave of outrage over allegations that affluent parents — including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin — paid bribes and used other illegal means to help get their children into elite schools.
McGlashan, who lives in Northern California’s affluent Marin County, is accused of bribing USC coach Donna Heinel to have his son admitted to the school, going so far as to fake a photograph to indicate that his son played football. He’s also accused of paying $50,000 to have his son take the ACT test on Dec. 9 and Dec. 10 in 2017 at a facility in West Hollywood, where a proctor corrected his answers, according to the indictment. On Dec. 10, cell phone records indicate that McGlashan’s son was not in West Hollywood but back in the Bay Area, suggesting that an impostor took the reading, writing and science sections of the test.
The indictment includes lengthy transcripts of telephone conversations between McGlashan and an individual described as cooperating witness No. 1, or “CW-1.” The transcripts indicate that McGlashan was concerned that his son be kept in the dark about the scheme, and that McGlashan approved of the effort to use PhotoShop and other tools to fake a sports profile for his son.
“The way the world works these days is unbelievable,” McGlashan told CW-1 as they discussed which photo to use, according to the indictment.
McGlashan’s firing came barely an hour after Loughlin was dropped by Hallmark Channel, where she was a regular in the drama series “When Calls the Heart” and the telepic series “Garage Sale Mysteries.”
McGlashan had been with TPG since 2004. Before that he worked in the technology and pharmaceutical sectors.
Read McGlashan’s resignation letter to his TPG partners below.