College admissions scandal: first parents found guilty



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Gamal Abdelaziz, 64, and John Wilson, 62, are the program’s first parents to be sentenced by a federal jury, Liz McCarthy, spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts, told CNN.

“The defendants in today’s case were powerful and prosperous men. They and their families enjoyed privileges and opportunities that most of us can only imagine, but they were prepared to break the law. law – and the jury has now found that they had broken the law. the law – in order to secure an admission place for their children in the school of their choice, ”said Nathaniel R. Mendell, Acting United States Attorney. .

In 2017, Abdelaziz agreed to pay $ 300,000 to William Rick Singer, the character at the center of the ploy, to facilitate his daughter’s admission to the University of Southern California as an alleged basketball rookie, detail. court documents. Based on his falsified athletic credentials, the USC Sports Admissions Subcommittee approved his admission to USC as a basketball rookie.

Four years earlier, Wilson had agreed to pay $ 220,000 to facilitate his son’s admission to the same college as the alleged water polo rookie, and in 2018 he “agreed to pay Singer an amount, totaling finally $ 1.5 million, to facilitate the admission of his twin daughters to Stanford and Harvard as alleged sports recruits, “say the court documents.

Wilson was charged with “conspiracy to commit mail and electronic fraud and honest services mail and electronic fraud; conspiracy to bribe federal programs; wire fraud and wire fraud of honest services – aiding and abetting; corruption of federal programs – aid and complicity; filing a false income tax return, ”according to US attorney’s office records.

Abdelaziz was charged with “conspiracy to commit postal and electronic fraud and honest services of postal and electronic fraud; conspiracy to bribe federal programs ”.

“What they did was an affront to hard-working students and parents, but today’s verdict proves that even these defendants – powerful and privileged people – are not above the law. is breaking the law, and now they are suffering the consequences, ”he added. Mendell added.

CNN has contacted lawyers representing Wilson and Abdelaziz.

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