Wealthy dad acquitted in closing trial of school admissions bribery scandal

A rich father was acquitted of bribing a Georgetown University tennis coach with a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars} to get his daughter into the elite faculty within the closing trial of the nationwide college-admissions dishonest scandal.

Amin Khoury’s case was the 57th one tied to the “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation that noticed 54 defendants plead responsible or get convicted at trial, together with actors Lori Loughlin, who served two months in jail, and Felicity Huffman, who served 11 days.

Khoury’s case was the one one to finish in a trial acquittal.

He was discovered not responsible by jurors of conspiracy and mail fraud expenses from accusations that he bribed former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst with a brown paper bag full of money in change for securing his daughter a roster spot on the staff.

Khoury’s legal professional’s argued that his shopper’s daughter was admitted to Georgetown on her personal advantage, saying that the varsity repeatedly favors kids of rich dad and mom.

Former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst took over $3 million to present rich college students admission into Georgetown.

One of the attorneys stated that the federal government’s case fell aside after Khoury’s daughter took the stand and testified that she had no clue concerning the funds to Ernst.

“They accused her of being a part of it. And it was completely false,” legal professional Roy Black told the Associated Press after the jury introduced its verdict.

Khoury was not accused of working with admissions fixer Rick Singer, who admitted to utilizing his sham charity to funnel bribes to coaches and others at prestigious colleges like The University of Southern California, Yale and Stanford. Singer is predicted to be sentenced in September.

Rather, prosecutor’s alleged Khoury used a intermediary to pay $180,000 to Ernst — who pleaded responsible in October to accepting over $3 million to funnel Singer’s purchasers into Georgetown as pretend recruits. Ernst is scheduled to be sentenced subsequent month.

Georgetown was one of many many of colleges wrapped up in “Operation Varsity Blues.”

Prosecutor’s stated Khoury handed a bag with the money to Timothy Donovan in 2015 at his Cape Cod dwelling to present to Ernst. The three all performed tennis collectively at Brown University and prosecutors stated the deal got here collectively whereas the three had been at a reunion on the Ivy League School.

Khoury’s protection staff argued that the money was a present to Ernst, who was struggling financially on the time as a result of he was not in a position to host his non-public tennis camps at Georgetown whereas the varsity constructed a brand new athletic middle.

“What did the Georgetown household do for him? They did nothing,” Black informed jurors throughout his closing argument. “They deserted him. The solely household that helped him was the Khoury household they usually wish to flip that into a criminal offense.”

Former Staples exec John Wilson acquired the most important sentence with of 15 months.

The protection claimed Donovan “made up” that story to keep away from being charged for tax crimes.

Assistant US Attorney Kristen Kearney informed jurors that Khoury’s daughter didn’t have the tutorial file to get into Georgetown and was ranked on the backside of her highschool tennis staff which was ranked on the backside of its league.

“She had no probability of getting in on advantage,” she argued.

In whole, over 50 “Operation Varsity Blues” dad and mom pleaded responsible and three others had been convicted at trial. Another dad or mum was pardoned by former President Donald Trump and one other coach had his case dismissed after agreeing to pay a superb.

John Wilson, a former Staples Inc. govt, acquired the longest sentence at 15 months after he was discovered responsible of paying bribes to get son into USC as a water polo recruit and his twin daughters into Harvard and Stanford.