Last Friday, a former head tennis coach at Georgetown University was sentenced to more than two years in prison, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts. He plead guilty last fall to accepting bribes in exchange for admitting certain students to the school.
The sentencing of the 54-year-old coach, Gordon Earnst, represented the more severe punishment issued so far in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity Blues. The operation (sometimes called the “College Admissions Scandal”) has focused on on monetary bribes given by wealthy parents in exchange for their child’s admission into top colleges and universities.
Ernst was first arrested in March 2019 with more than four dozen other coaches, parents and testing center officials. He plead guilty to taking bribes in exchange for marking at least 12 students as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team between 2012 and 2018.
“Mr. Ernst was one of the most prolific participants in cheating the college admissions system … he put nearly $3.5 million in bribes directly into his pocket and sold close to two dozen slots at Georgetown to the highest bidder,” said Rachael S. Rollins, the U.S. attorney, in a statement.
Ernst also did not fully report all of the income from those bribes on his federal income tax returns, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Ernst worked alongside William Singer, the person that prosecutors said was the leader of the college admissions scheme. Singer went by Rick and was a private college counselor who offered rich families a “side door” into the top universities of the US, often using athletic recruiters like Mr. Ernst to forge a college applicant’s qualifications.
Singer, who began cooperating with authorities in 2018, is one of four remaining people majorly involved in the Varsity Blues case who have not yet been sentenced. His hearing is scheduled for September.
Source articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/02/us/gordon-ernst-georgetown-tennis-coach-scandal.html#:~:text=The%20sentencing%20of%20the%20coach,have%20their%20children%20admitted%20to
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/former-georgetown-head-tennis-coach-pleads-guilty-college-admissions-case
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme
The sentencing of the 54-year-old coach, Gordon Earnst, represented the more severe punishment issued so far in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity Blues. The operation (sometimes called the “College Admissions Scandal”) has focused on on monetary bribes given by wealthy parents in exchange for their child’s admission into top colleges and universities.
Ernst was first arrested in March 2019 with more than four dozen other coaches, parents and testing center officials. He plead guilty to taking bribes in exchange for marking at least 12 students as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team between 2012 and 2018.
“Mr. Ernst was one of the most prolific participants in cheating the college admissions system … he put nearly $3.5 million in bribes directly into his pocket and sold close to two dozen slots at Georgetown to the highest bidder,” said Rachael S. Rollins, the U.S. attorney, in a statement.
Ernst also did not fully report all of the income from those bribes on his federal income tax returns, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Ernst worked alongside William Singer, the person that prosecutors said was the leader of the college admissions scheme. Singer went by Rick and was a private college counselor who offered rich families a “side door” into the top universities of the US, often using athletic recruiters like Mr. Ernst to forge a college applicant’s qualifications.
Singer, who began cooperating with authorities in 2018, is one of four remaining people majorly involved in the Varsity Blues case who have not yet been sentenced. His hearing is scheduled for September.
Source articles:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/02/us/gordon-ernst-georgetown-tennis-coach-scandal.html#:~:text=The%20sentencing%20of%20the%20coach,have%20their%20children%20admitted%20to
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/former-georgetown-head-tennis-coach-pleads-guilty-college-admissions-case
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme
