A private equity investor convicted in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal received a 15-month prison sentence, the longest meted out to date.
John B. Wilson was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Boston after being convicted last year of paying more than $1.2 million to get his three children into elite colleges. He was also ordered to pay a $200,000 fine and $88,546 in restitution.
Wilson’s sentencing comes about a week after former Wynn Resorts Ltd. executive Gamal Abdelaziz was ordered to spend a year and a day in prison. Before Abdelaziz, the highest sentence handed out in the case had been the nine months given to former Pimco Chief Executive Officer Douglas Hodge.
Unlike Hodge and dozens of others charged in the case, however, Wilson and Abdelaziz chose to contest their charges at trial. A jury found them guilty in October.
Prosecutors had asked for Wilson to be sentenced to 21 months behind bars, saying he still refused to accept responsibility for his crimes. Wilson asked for 6 months, saying he deeply regretted his participation in the scheme orchestrated by disgraced college counselor William “Rick” Singer.
Wilson paid more than $200,000 to get his son into the University of Southern California as a supposed water polo recruit and $1 million for his daughters to go to Harvard and Stanford.
A USC coach testified at trial that Wilson’s son only came to water polo practice once. His daughters never went to Harvard and Stanford though, as Singer began cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
