What the universities do (taking students in exchange for a donation of a new building or whatever) is not meritocratic, but it isn’t illegal. They are private

What the universities do (taking students in exchange for a donation of a new building or whatever) is not meritocratic, but it isn’t illegal. They are private institutions empowered to make shady deals. Individual employees taking bribes to put students in by pretending they are athletes is clear fraud.