Seventeenth USC Varsity Blues parent sentenced

United States District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton sentenced John Wilson, private equity financier, to 15 months in prison and two years of supervised release Wednesday for his involvement in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal, according to a Department of Justice press release the same day.

Wilson’s sentence is now the stiffest of all participants in the scandal, exceeding Gamal Abdelaziz’s one year and one day sentence in prison announced Feb. 9. 

Wilson was also sentenced to 400 hours of community service, a $200,000 fine and ordered to pay $88,546 to the IRS.

A federal jury convicted Wilson Oct. 8 on one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, honest services mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, three counts of wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, two counts of federal programs bribery and one count of filing a false tax return.

“What they did was an affront to hardworking students and parents, but the verdict today proves that even these defendants — powerful and privileged people — are not above the law,” said acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Nathaniel Mendell in a press conference following Wilson’s conviction. 

In 2013, Wilson hired William “Rick” Singer — the organizer of the scheme who modified test scores and fraudulently admitted students to elite schools as varsity athletes — to fabricate an athletic profile for his son and facilitate his acceptance into USC, according to a Department of Justice October press release. 

Wilson paid Singer $220,000 to admit his son as a purported water polo recruit, the press release read. The payment came after his son’s acceptance to USC as a $100,000 contribution to Singer’s fake charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation, a payment of $100,000 to Singer’s company, The Key, and $20,000 paid directly to Singer.

Wilson also agreed to pay Singer $1.5 million in 2018 to facilitate his twin daughters’ acceptances to Harvard University and Stanford University as athletic recruits, according to a Feb. 16 Department of Justice press release. Wilson paid the bribes from the corporate account of his private investment firm, which he then falsely deducted as business expenses and charitable contributions. 

Singer pleaded guilty March 12, 2019 and awaits sentencing.

Wilson’s sentence, although the longest of all those given to other participants, is shorter than the maximum sentences for his convicted charges. Mail and wire fraud is punishable by a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Federal programs bribery provides for a sentence of up to five years’ imprisonment, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

USC declined to comment on Wilson’s sentencing. Wilson’s lawyer Michael Kendall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.