A federal appeals court overturned all fraud convictions Wednesday of two parents who were found guilty of paying bribes to get their kids into elite universities as part of a sprawling college admissions scandal.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed all convictions against Gamal Abdelaziz and all but one conviction of another parent, John Wilson. The Boston-based appeals court upheld Wilson’s conviction on a charge of filing a false tax return.
A jury in Boston’s federal court found the pair guilty in 2021 of buying their kids’ ways into school as athletic recruits in the first case to go to trial in the so-called “Operation Varsity Blues” scandal that embroiled prestigious universities across the country.
Abdelaziz, of Las Vegas, was accused of paying $300,000 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.
Authorities alleged that Wilson, a former executive at Staples Inc., paid $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.
Lawyers for Wilson and Abdelaziz argued that their clients believed they were making legitimate donations and that the admissions consultant at the center of the scandal, William “Rick” Singer, pitched his so-called “side door” scheme as a lawful one. They said they were led to believe their money would go directly to colleges, saying they’re no different than other wealthy parents who make donations to get a boost in the admissions process.
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The three-judge panel of the 1st Circuit said the trial judge was wrong in instructing the jury that admissions slot constitutes “property” of the universities under the mail and wire fraud law. The judges found that the government also failed to prove that the parents…
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