Ex-USC water polo coach to get new admissions scam trial
A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a former decorated University of Southern California water polo coach convicted in the sprawling college admissions bribery scandal.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found that some evidence introduced by the government in Jovan Vavic’s fraud and bribery case to be unreliable and that prosecutors erred in their argument to jurors about some of the alleged bribe money.
Vavic, who guided USC’s men’s and women’s water polo teams to 16 national championships, was convicted in April after being arrested in March 2019 in the headline-grabbing “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation.
Prosecutors accused Vavic of taking more than $200,000 in bribes to fake athletic credentials and designate college applicants as water polo athletes to get them into USC.
Vavic’s attorney, Stephen Larson, said in an email that the judge’s ruling “protects Coach Vavic from a wrongful conviction.”
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said her office is reviewing all of its options in response to the ruling.
“We are very disappointed in this ruling, which we do not believe is grounded in the facts or the law,” she said in an emailed statement. “The jury convicted Mr. Vavic on every single count and we believe they got it right.”
More than 50 people were convicted in the “Operation Varsity Blues” case. They include TV actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli.
The last defendant linked to the investigation to go to trial was acquitted by jurors on all counts. Another defendant was pardoned by former President Donald Trump and a third defendant got a deal that’s expected to lead to the dismissal of his case.