a plea for leniency
College admissions defendant invokes Warren Moon, Bill Buckner, the Queen
A defendant in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal is throwing a Hail Mary as he pleads for a light sentence, submitting a letter from Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon and invoking a range of people from Bill Buckner to the Queen of England.
David Sidoo, a Canadian businessman and former football player, is pleading guilty to federal charges for his role in the splashy scam that snared dozens of the rich and famous who tried to use their money to try to cheat their kids into better colleges.
Federal sentencing guidelines would normally instruct the Boston judge considering Sidoo’s fate to send the 61-year-old to jail for six to 12 months, Sidoo’s attorneys acknowledged in a Friday filing. But Sidoo, who pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, is instead seeking to spend only 90 days in jail, followed by a year’s supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
And he’s calling in some big names to help him plead his case. Sidoo’s lawyers included a letter from Warren Moon, the Hall of Fame quarterback, who described Sidoo as a “friend” and said he’s regularly been talking to him through these proceedings.
“I have no doubt David has and will learn from this, and the experience will only make him a better man than he already is,” Moon wrote, talking about how he and Sidoo have done extensive charitable work together.
Sidoo’s solicitors also enclosed a letter touting an honor he received from Queen Elizabeth II, who gave him an award as part of her “Diamond Jubilee” in 2012, celebrating her 60 years on the throne.
Another letter, written by “investment advisor” Grant Caldwell in a jaunty Comic Sans font, compared Sidoo to the late former Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner, a longtime player who’s most remembered for infamously letting a ground ball roll between his legs as the Sox had the chance to clinch the 1986 World Series.
“Making an error comes with consequences and with David’s sentence forthcoming for his judgment error, that ‘one play’ he wishes he could take back, I hope and trust that those involved in his sentencing approval look at the man, his overall character, and his decades of philanthropy when making their final decision,” Caldwell wrote.
Sidoo’s filing argued that he’s the only Canadian national to be ensnared in the scam, so the local media north of the border has spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on him.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling’s office effectively agreed with Sidoo in its own Friday filing, asking for 90 days’ prison because that’s similar to what several other Varsity Blues scammers have received, and “it is likely that Sidoo will be required to serve any sentence in a minimum security prison, rather than a federal prison camp, as defendants in related matters have.”
Sidoo is charged with paying scam mastermind Rick Singer $200,000 to help two of his sons get into colleges. Singer had one of his cohorts take the SAT for two of Sidoo’s kids, helping Sidoo “steal two college admissions slots for his sons,” Lelling’s filing said.
Sidoo and Singer also worked together, attorney Lelling had said, to write an admissions essay for one of the boys “that falsely claimed that Sidoo’s son had been held up at gunpoint by members of a Los Angeles street gang and that he had then been rescued by a rival gang member named ‘Nugget.'”
Sidoo is due back in court at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday for sentencing by Judge Nathaniel Gorton.