Curtain lifts on ‘Varsity Blues’ trial
Two donors to schools blame ‘con man’ who made it seem legal
The first trial in the sweeping college admissions scandal got underway with defense attorneys attempting to portray the two fathers accused of buying their kids’ way into elite universities as victims of an “extremely skilled con man.”
“It’s not illegal to give money to schools with the hope that it helps your kid get in,” defense attorney Brian Kelly told jurors during his opening statement on Monday in Boston federal court. “No one ever said bribery to him.”
Defense attorneys said former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz and former Staples and Gap Inc. executive John Wilson believed their relationship with admissions consultant Rick Singer was above board. Lawyers said their clients thought the large sums they were paying to colleges were legal to access a “side door” that gave children of wealthy parents priority in the admissions process.
“He had no inkling that Singer was a skilled con man, and make no mistake — that’s what Singer is, an extremely skilled con man,” Kelly, Abdelaziz’s lawyer, said in court.
The pair are the first to face a jury in the “Operation Varsity Blues” case that has embroiled 50 other parents, athletic coaches and others in the case that exposed the extent to which deeppocketed parents will go to get their kids into elite universities across the country. Defense attorneys even attempted to block how often their clients could be referred to as wealthy saying it could unduly influence the jury.
Thirty-three other parents have pleaded guilty, including
TV actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli since arrests happened nearly two-and-a-half years ago. The parents have so far received punishments ranging from probation to nine months in prison.
Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, is accused of paying $300,000 to Singer’s sham charity to get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a basketball recruit, even though she didn’t even make it onto her high school’s varsity team.
Wilson, who founded a real estate private-equity firm in Hyannis Port, is charged with paying $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and an additional $1 million to buy his twin daughters’ ways into Harvard and Stanford.
Singer, who has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, won’t make an appearance at the trial as expected. Prosecutors revealed they won’t call Singer to the stand and giving defense attorneys an opportunity to sow doubt in the government’s arguments.
Still, prosecutors contend a clear-cut case of fraud traced back to the behavior of the students’ parents.
“We are here today because these defendants made a different choice to get their children admitted to elite universities as state athletic recruits based upon falsified credentials to corrupt university insiders who misled their own colleagues in order to exchange the recruitment slots for money.”