Ten of the remaining parents charged with paying bribes to get their children into elite U.S. colleges will be tried in two groups, after a federal judge rejected their appeal for separate proceedings.
"There is common and overlapping evidence" in the cases, and the parents will be tried in groups with similar alleged conduct, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston said Wednesday in a court filing.
Four parents are scheduled to go to trial in October while six more, including former TPG executive Bill McGlashan, are slated for trial in January. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges. The parents argued that they weren't part of an overarching conspiracy and said that joint trials would lead to "prejudicial spillover" and harm their chances of getting a fair trial.
More than 50 people have been charged in what prosecutors described as the biggest college-entrance scandal in U.S. history. Parents allegedly paid the scheme's mastermind, William "Rick" Singer, to fix entrance-exam scores or to funnel bribes to athletic coaches to get the kids on recruiting lists. Of the 38 parents charged, 28 have pleaded guilty.
