A wealthy Pennsylvania father could spend months in prison after admitting to paying $50,000 in bribes to have his daughter accepted into Georgetown University by passing her off as an athletic recruit, federal authorities announced Tuesday.
Robert Repella, a former biotech executive from Ambler, is the 55th person charged in the Department of Justice's still-ongoing college admissions cheating investigation, which has implicated dozens of ultra-rich parents desperate to get their kids into elite colleges across the country.
But unlike most parents in the case, the 61-year-old defendant is accused of bribing a Georgetown tennis coach "directly" _ without the help of convicted mastermind William "Rick" Singer, the man who admitted helping numerous parents with fraudulent athletic profiles and rigged SAT and ACT scores.
Authorities said Repella gave two checks of $25,000 to then-coach Gordon Ernst to make sure his daughter would be accepted as a recruit to the Georgetown women's tennis team. The girl, whose tennis credentials were not immediately clear, was accepted to the university in 2018, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts, which is leading the investigation.
Ernst, who's also accused of helping some of Singer's "clients," was previously charged with racketeering, fraud and other offenses, but he has pleaded not guilty and continues to fight the allegations.
Repella pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 10 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and a fine of $40,000.
He's scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23.
The latest development comes just days after one of the most famous defendants in the scandal ended a yearlong battle with prosecutors.
"Full House" star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty last week and could face several months in prison. The celebrity couple admitted to paying $500,000 in bribes to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as fake crew team recruits.
