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Federal prosecutors charged 50 people Tuesday in a sweeping college admissions cheating and bribery scheme. The defendants include Hollywood actresses, Bay Area parents, CEOs, a Stanford coach, a Napa Valley winemaker, a Miami real estate developer and others.

The primary target, William Rick Singer, was indicted on multiple counts of money laundering, racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice, according to court records unsealed Tuesday. Wealthy parents paid Singer to bribe coaches, fake admissions documents, such as athletic achievements, and help their children cheat on their SAT and ACT exams, prosecutors said.

Here is the full list of defendants, some of whom have been fired from their jobs since the investigation became public:

• William Rick Singer: CEO and founder of the Edge College and Career Network and Key Worldwide Foundation

Charges: racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and obstruction of justice

• Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith: head women’s soccer coach at Yale University from 1995 to 2018

Charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and honest services wire fraud and honest services wire fraud

• Mark Riddell: Florida resident accused of secretly taking the SAT and ACT for students or helping them cheat

Charges: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering

• John Vandemoer: head sailing coach at Stanford University

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Igor Dvorskiy: director of a private elementary and high school in Los Angeles and test administrator for the SAT and ACT

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Gordon Ernst: head tennis coach at Georgetown University until January 2018

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• William Ferguson: women’s volleyball coach at Wake Forest University

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Martin Fox: president of a private tennis academy and camp in Houston

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Donna Heinel: senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Laura Janke: assistant women’s soccer coach at USC

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Ali Khosroshahin: head women’s soccer coach at USC

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Steven Masera: accountant and financial officer of Edge College and Career Network and Key Worldwide Foundation

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Jorge Salcedo: head men’s soccer coach at UCLA

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Mikaela Sanford: employee of Edge College and Career Network and Key Worldwide Foundation

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• David Sidoo: Vancouver, Canada businessman with two sons

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud

• Jovan Vavic: water polo coach at USC

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Lisa “Niki” Williams: test administrator for the SAT and ACT in Houston

Charge: conspiracy to commit racketeering

• Gregory Abbott: founder and chairman of a packaging company in the food and beverage industry and former chairman and CEO of a private-label clothing manufacturer

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Marcia Abbott: New York resident

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Gamal Abdelaziz: former senior executive of a resort and casino operator in Macau, China

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Diane Blake: Ross executive at a retail merchandising firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Todd Blake: Ross entrepreneur and investor

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Jane Buckingham: CEO of a boutique marketing company based in Los Angeles

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Gordon Caplan: attorney and the co-chairman of an international law firm based in New York

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Michael Center: head coach of the men’s tennis at the University of Texas at Austin

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• I-hsin “Joey” Chen: operator of a warehousing and related services provider for the shipping industry

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Amy Colburn: Palo Alto resident

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Gregory Colburn: Palo Alto physician

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Robert Flaxman: president and CEO of a Los Angeles real estate development firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Mossimo Giannulli: fashion designer

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Elizabeth Henriquez: Atherton resident

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Manuel Henriquez: CEO of a publicly traded specialty finance company in Palo Alto

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Douglas Hodge: former CEO of a large investment management company in Newport Beach

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Felicity Huffman: actress known for her role on the television show Desperate Housewives

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Agustin Huneeus Jr.: the son of renown Napa vintner Agustin Huneeus, whose family controls a global wine empire

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Bruce Isackson: Hillsborough resident and president of real estate development firm in Woodside

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Davina Isackson: Hillsborough resident

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Michelle Janavs: resident of Newport Coast and former executive at a large food manufacturer formerly owned by her family

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Elisabeth Kimmel: Las Vegas owner and president of a media company

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Marjorie Klapper: Menlo Park resident and co-owner of a jewelry business

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Lori Loughlin: actress known for her roles on the television shows Full House and 90210

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Toby MacFarlane: resident of Del Mar and senior executive at a title insurance company

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• William McGlashan: Mill Valley resident and senior executive at a global private equity firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Marci Palatella: Hillsborough resident and CEO of a liquor distribution company in Burlingame

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Peter Jan Sartorio: Menlo Park resident and packaged food entrepreneur

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Stephen Semprevivo: executive at an Agoura Hills sales firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Devin Sloane: founder and CEO a Los Angeles drinking water and wastewater systems company

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• John Wilson: Massachusetts resident and CEO of a private equity and real estate development firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Homayoun Zadeh: associate professor of dentistry at USC

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

• Robert Zangrillo: founder and CEO of a Miami venture capital and real estate investment firm

Charge: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud

Chronicle staff writer Evan Sernoffsky contributed to this report.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov

A sprawling stretch of salt ponds on the western edge of San Francisco Bay, once eyed for the creation of a virtual mini-city, is back at the center of debate over regional development after the Trump administration this month exempted the site from the Clean Water Act.

With the regulatory hurdle out of the way, real estate company DMB Pacific Ventures says it’s reopening discussion about what to do with the unusually large chunk of undeveloped land at the heart of Silicon Valley in Redwood City.

The Phoenix-based firm hasn’t offered a plan for the property. It’s only said it won’t pursue the same 12,000-home proposal it sought a decade ago. That idea was dropped amid fierce opposition, but with emotions still raw from the fight, renewed talk of development is once again igniting tension between such competing interests as housing and bay restoration.

“What was proposed before was huge and controversial … and divided our community,” said Redwood City Mayor Ian Bain. “There’s very little appetite in the community for another big project.”

Bain said his preference is to return the land to its original, marshy state. This option was popularized during the last dispute because a natural wetlands would help buffer the city from the rising bay water that has come with climate change.

Any proposed construction on the roughly 2-square-mile salt-harvesting site would still have to be approved by the city as well as other local and state agencies. But DMB Ventures, which is working with the property’s owner, agribusiness giant Cargill, believes the Bay Area’s acute housing shortage plus the land’s proximity to such employers as Facebook, Oracle and Kaiser Permanente could warm the community to new residential development.

“It’s a critical site, it’s a critical size and it’s a critical location,” said attorney David Smith, representing DMB Ventures. “It’s uniquely poised to help facilitate solutions to some of Silicon Valley’s most vexing challenges.”

The prospect of building over the salt ponds comes after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week tossed the findings of the local EPA office and determined that the land is not bound to the Clean Water Act. The 1972 law is designed to restrict water pollution as well as prevent the destruction of wetlands.

Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler wrote that the Redwood City property had been turned from marsh into a salt farm before the passage of the Clean Water Act and, therefore, future development wouldn’t be subject to the law. The land was diked and filled in the early 1900s to create a series of pinkish-red pools where briny water, to this day, is dried to produce salt.

Jared Blumenfeld, former administrator of the EPA’s West Coast office and now California’s secretary of environmental protection, said the agency’s decision is a misguided interpretation of the Clean Water Act.

During his tenure at the federal EPA, Blumenfeld’s office determined that the Redwood City site was subject to the law because it covers areas that can be easily converted back to wetlands, which is the case with the salt ponds. That determination was not made official, however, before President Trump took office, and the new administration moved forward with its own review.

“This is a very troubling precedent,” Blumenfeld said. “More than 90 percent of coastal wetlands have been destroyed in California, and this opens up the potential of (more) development” on the bayfront.

Bayfront marshland provides habitat for fish, birds and small mammals and filters pollution from dirty water as well as offers flood protection from rising seas.

Speaking on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Democrat Rep. Jackie Speier, who represents the area, took the opportunity to blast the EPA for changing its tune on the Clean Water Act.

“This administration has completely hijacked the jurisdictional process away from the experts on the ground,” she said. “It’s completely in line with this administration’s record of gutting environmental protections in the name of corporate interests.”

Speier told The Chronicle that, even if new development isn’t approved, the EPA’s “flip-flop” raises the value of the property and would allow Cargill to sell the land for more. This could hamper efforts by local environmental groups that are trying to buy bayfront property to protect it.

Cargill has been considering development of the site since at least 2009. The Minnesota company, which once harvested salt in several spots around the bay, at the turn of this century sold off much of its holdings, a lot of which is now being restored to wetlands. The more accessible Redwood City location, just east of Highway 101, commanded a premium price that hasn’t attracted a buyer.

Cargill, with the help of DMB Ventures, drew up a proposal for a planned community at the site with 12,000 homes and 25,000 people. The project included schools, stores and parks as well as a possible train and ferry service. The proposed community would have been the largest development along the bay since fill material was brought in to create Foster City in the 1960s.

In 2012, however, Cargill withdrew the plan amid rising concerns about building on flood-prone property and creating more traffic. The company said it would come up with a new proposal, but the EPA’s original interpretation of the Clean Water Act complicated the effort.

Housing advocates who have long fought to increase the stock of new homes in the Bay Area have been supportive of at least limited development on the salt ponds. Some were pleased to hear that the opportunity has resurfaced.

“I know there’s a lot of strong feelings about that particular site,” said Evelyn Stivers, executive director of Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County. But “given the breadth and depth of the shortfall we have on housing, I hope we can have an honest and thoughtful conversation about it.”

Bain, the Redwood City mayor, said significant residential development is a nonstarter. He said the city has already done more than most to increase its housing supply, focusing on the creation of new homes close to downtown and near public transportation.

“It’s not about being antidevelopment,” he said. “It’s about having the right uses in the right places.”

David Lewis, executive director of the environmental advocacy group Save the Bay, agrees that the right use for the salt ponds is re-submerging them.

“We have this amazing opportunity in parts of the bay to restore wetlands,” he said, “which is basically green infrastructure to protect shoreline communities and reduce the need for levees and seawalls.”

Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalexander