A former Georgetown University tennis coach who once led the family of former President Barack Obama put a bribe of over $ 3 million in his pocket in exchange for helping the wealthy. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday as parents deceive their children into school.
Gordon Ernst's decision is the toughest punishment ever inherited in the vastcollege admission scandaland of some rich parents. I shed light on the length. Will take their children to the most selected schools in the country.
Prosecutors have received nearly $ 3.5 million in bribes for over a decade to designate a child with a deep-pocketed parent as a recruit, even though they are not Georgetown's caliber. He was seeking a four-year delay for the 55-year-old Ernst who admitted. player.
Ernst taught a judge in a federal court in Boston about losing his moral compass and making the right choice. He said he took actions that did not match that.
"I'm most embarrassed that I didn't follow what I was preaching to them," he said.
In a letter to the judge, Ernst grew up on Rhode Island with his demanding, physically abusive father, the late Rhode Island tennis legend Dick Ernst. I explained that I grew up together. Father. "Ernst's mothertold The Boston Globethat her husband was never abusive.
Ernst told Northwestern after playing hockey and tennis at Brown University in Providence. He got a coaching job at the University and the University of Pennsylvania. He was offered the job of heading male and female tennis coaches in Georgetown in 2006, and two years later a friend of mine was the mastermind of the bribery scheme. Ernst told the judge that he was introduced to Rick Singer.
According to the prosecutor, Ernst is not eligible for a bribe out of the six spots he earns each year to recruit tennis players. He regularly gave students at least two, often up to five. Over the years, he helped about 20 students fraudulently enter school, a US federal prosecutor said. Assistant Kristen Kearney told the judge.
And unlike some of the other coaches accused of receiving a bribe in the form of money for their sports program, Ernst He put almost all the money in his pocket for himself, the prosecutor said. According to Mr. Kearney, he used a bribe to pay his daughters' expensive private school tuition and Cape Cod.
The lawyer asked the judge to rule for about a year, and in court documents, Ernst, like the tragic Greek mythical figure Icarus, "approached the sun." I forgot that the wings were made of wax. " ""
Surrounded by a wealthy and prestigious family in Georgetown, Ernst (starting salary of $ 55,000) told himself he hadn't taken a bribe and hurt anyone or his team. The lawyer writes.
Ernst has been trying to turn his life around since his arrest in 2019 and has worked part-time as a tennis instructor, hockey referee and car rental cleaner, Ernst's lawyer said.
"Gordy has fallen from the White House to the tabloids, a fall from grace for much longer than the courts would see in a normal case," his lawyer wrote.
U.S. District Judge Indira Tarwani called Ernst's behavior "terrible," and it arose from his desire to portray himself as a wealthy person because he saw it as a measure of his success. He said it was.
Ernst left Georgetown in 2018 after an internal investigation into what the school explained about the "irregularity of exercise qualifications" of recruiting students and violated admission rules. I concluded that.
He was later hired by the University of Rhode Island and claimed to be unaware of any violations of admission rules. He resigned from the school shortly after his arrest.
Ernst is one of 54 people convicted of the Operation Varsity Bluescase, which exploded into a headline in March 2019.
Acquitted by a jury in all respects last month in connection with an investigation to go to the final defendant trial. Another defendant was amnesty by former President Donald Trump, and a third defendant won a transaction that would lead to the dismissal of his proceedings.
Until Friday, the most severe punishment wasJohn Wilson, a jury convicted of paying $ 220,000 to hire a son. I was 15 months in prison for a Staples executive. He was designated as a water polo recruit at the University of Southern California, and an additional $ 1 million was added to purchase the twin daughters' way to Harvard University and Stanford University. Wilson claims that he is innocent and remains free while he sues his proceedings.
Only a handful of defendants will be sentenced.
This includes Singer, the mastermind of the scheme, which was convicted of numerous charges in 2019. The singer secretly began working with investigators before the case was announced, helping the government build a large prosecution. He will be sentenced to prison in September.
- In:
- Donald Trump
- Rhode Island
- Hockey
- Crime
- Barack Obama
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