No jail time for parent tried in college scandal
Court overturned bribery, fraud convictions
A federal judge ordered six months of house arrest Friday for a parent who was resentenced on a single tax count after an appeals court overturned his bribery and fraud convictions, for paying $1.2 million to get his three children into elite colleges.
John B. Wilson, 64, of Lynnfield and Hyannis Port, who was charged in the sprawling Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, cried during the hearing in federal court in Boston as he told the judge that his long legal battle to prove that his payments were lawful donations “devastated my family emotionally, financially, and reputationally.”
His voice cracked as he turned to face two of his children, who were seated in the packed courtroom, and said their academic and athletic achievements had been tainted by false accusations and “my heart breaks each and every day they have suffered.”
US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin rejected the government’s argument that Wilson, a private equity investor, should be sentenced to 15 months in prison on the tax charge because, among other things, he had refused to admit his role in the nationwide college admissions scheme that sent dozens of other parents to prison after guilty pleas.
“He’s not convicted of Varsity Blues conduct,” Sorokin said. “He went to trial and fundamentally the government lost. The conviction you got is not a valid conviction. It was set aside clearly and unequivocally by the First Circuit [Court of Appeals].”
However, Sorokin told Wilson that he was guilty of filing a false tax return in 2014 by claiming business and charitable deductions for a $220,000 payment he made to help his son get admitted to the University of Southern California as a water polo recruit.
“It was a fraud,” Sorokin said. “You knew it and you bear responsibility for it. The decision to do it has cost you dearly.”
He sentenced Wilson to a year of probation, which includes six months of home confinement, and ordered him to pay a $75,000 fine, $88,546 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, and perform 250 hours of community service.
The judge declined to consider Wilson’s request to order the government to pay him back $1 million that was seized as part of the case, saying that matter should be decided by the judge who signed the forfeiture order.
“I didn’t think I was breaking any laws in making these dona
tions,” Wilson said after Friday’s hearing.He noted that he received a thank you note from USC for his $100,000 contribution to the school’s water polo program and invoices for other payments he made through William “Rick” Singer, a college consultant who later admitted to being the mastermind of the nationwide bribery scandal.
Wilson was among 57 people, including wealthy parents, celebrities, college coaches, and administrators, charged in the sweeping scandal that erupted in 2019 and cast a spotlight on the influence of wealth on college admissions. Fifty-one people pleaded guilty to participating in cheating and bribery schemes orchestrated by Singer, including Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin.
Some parents admitted they paid Singer to bribe corrupt college coaches and administrators to pass their children off as fake athletes for sports they didn’t play to guarantee their admission as athletic recruits. Other parents admitted they conspired with Singer to bribe SAT and ACT exam administrators to allow someone to secretly take the test for their children or correct their answers afterward.
In 2021, Wilson and another parent, Gamal Abdelaziz, were the first to go to trial and were convicted of bribery and fraud by a federal jury in Boston. Jurors found that Wilson made the $220,000 payment to get his son, Johnny, admitted to USC as a water polo recruit, then paid Singer $1 million in 2018 to have his twin daughters designated as recruits to Stanford and Harvard universities for sports they didn’t play.
However, in May, the appeals court found that the government failed to prove that Wilson and Abdelaziz were part of an “overarching” conspiracy involving Singer and other parents, and that the pair didn’t get a fair trial because prosecutors introduced “a significant amount of powerful evidence related to other parents’ wrongdoing” that Wilson and Abdelaziz were not involved in. The court tossed all of Abdelaziz’s convictions, and all but one count against Wilson.
“I was innocent,” Wilson said during a telephone interview prior to Friday’s sentencing. “A lot of the parents I think were bad, they did bad acts.”
But, Wilson said his case was different and he was frustrated that the defense was prevented from presenting evidence that may have helped him prove his innocence.
He said his son, Johnny, has been an extraordinary athlete his entire life and set a world record at 9 years old by swimming from the notorious Alcatraz prison across San Francisco Bay to the shore — a feat that at the time led to an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and a commendation from President George W. Bush.
Later, Wilson’s son played water polo on elite teams in high school and was a member of the USC team his freshman year, according to testimony. Wilson also said his twin daughters were “highly qualified academically” and had perfect and near perfect scores on the ACT exam.
Wilson’s son played on the USC water polo team after being admitted and graduated from the college. Wilson said Singer told him his donations would help reserve his daughters spots as managers of a crew or sailing team, and not take the place of a recruited athlete.
He said Singer was a conman, who persuaded him that his payments were legal and he needed to make them to boost his children’s chances of getting into top colleges, even though they were qualified.
“Making a donation was something that Singer and other parents I knew said could make a difference,” Wilson said. “It could be a tie-breaker boost. And so why not?”
‘I was innocent. A lot of the parents I think were bad, they did bad acts.’
JOHN B. WILSON, in a phone interview Friday