In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Tuesday, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara weighed in on the indictment of wealthy parents accused of buying admission to universities like Yale, Stanford, and the University of Southern California.

“It takes a lot for a legal story to break through to the public, and the only two that I can think of in recent times are this case [the college admissions scandal] and the Jussie Smollett case,” Bharara told Yahoo Finance.

Dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues,” the admissions scandal ensnared 33 wealthy parents ranging from high-profile celebrities like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman to business executives like former PIMCO CEO Douglas Hodge. On Tuesday, federal prosecutors hit 16 of the parents with new money laundering charges.

The other case Bharara referenced involved Smollett, a star on the hit TV show “Empire,” who told police that he was brutally assaulted in Chicago. He was then accused of staging the alleged hate crime against himself. But in a turn of events, all 16 charges were abruptly dropped.

Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, likened the college admissions scheme to insider trading in an interview with Yahoo Finance.

“This case has broken through because everyone can identify with it. Everyone has thought about college or knows someone who went to college or is thinking about higher education for an offspring or someone else,” said Bharara.

“And they think, ‘Well, I do it by the rules.’ And you kind of understood that there was a way that privileged people had some advantage. It’s not that different from insider trading, by the way, when you charge a billionaire who says, ‘Well, why would I cheat...I have a billion dollars?’ Well, they have and they do. And that's true of some people like this too.”

‘It’s garden variety criminal law enforcement’

Bharara, who prosecuted close to 100 Wall Street executives for crimes like insider trading and money laundering fraud during his nearly eight years as U.S. attorney, pointed out the fascinating way the investigation first started — a finance executive named Morrie Tobin was being investigated for a pump-and-dump investment scheme. He then offered a tip about the head women’s soccer coach at Yale who would give his daughter admission in exchange for a bribe.

“No one is complaining, with respect to the college admissions scandal, that that began as a securities fraud investigation with respect to a particular person. That person got pinched and said, ‘You know what, have I got some information for you?’”