A former Georgetown University head tennis coach
who pleaded guilty last fall to accepting bribes to help
prospective students gain admission to the school was
sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison, according
to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts.
The sentencing of the coach, Gordon Ernst, 54, to 30 months
in prison has represented the harshest punishment issued so
far in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity
Blues, which has focused on the payment of bribes by wealthy
parents in order to have their children admitted to elite
colleges.
The disgraced tennis coach was arrested in March 2019. Some
of those students did not even play tennis anymore.
Mr. Ernst also failed to report all of the income from the bribe
payments on his federal income tax returns, according to a
statement from the Department of Justice.
Mr. Ernst worked alongside the person who the prosecutors
said was the ringleader of the college admissions scheme: Mr.
Singer. Mr. Singer, began cooperating with authorities in 2018
and, is one of four remaining defendants in the Varsity Blues
case who have not yet been sentenced. His hearing is
scheduled for September.
who pleaded guilty last fall to accepting bribes to help
prospective students gain admission to the school was
sentenced Friday to more than two years in prison, according
to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Massachusetts.
The sentencing of the coach, Gordon Ernst, 54, to 30 months
in prison has represented the harshest punishment issued so
far in the federal investigation known as Operation Varsity
Blues, which has focused on the payment of bribes by wealthy
parents in order to have their children admitted to elite
colleges.
The disgraced tennis coach was arrested in March 2019. Some
of those students did not even play tennis anymore.
Mr. Ernst also failed to report all of the income from the bribe
payments on his federal income tax returns, according to a
statement from the Department of Justice.
Mr. Ernst worked alongside the person who the prosecutors
said was the ringleader of the college admissions scheme: Mr.
Singer. Mr. Singer, began cooperating with authorities in 2018
and, is one of four remaining defendants in the Varsity Blues
case who have not yet been sentenced. His hearing is
scheduled for September.
