Appeals Court Overturns Fraud and Conspiracy Convictions in Varsity Blues Scandal
In a stunning reversal, a federal appeals court overturned the fraud and conspiracy convictions on Wednesday of two parents found guilty of participating in a far-reaching bribery scheme, known as Operation Varsity Blues, which ensnared dozens of wealthy parents who falsified their children’s credentials to gain admission to prestigious universities across the country.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Massachusetts found that the lower court had made crucial missteps in the trial of Gamal Abdelaziz, a former casino executive, and John Wilson, a private equity financier. The court, however, upheld Mr. Wilson’s conviction on tax fraud.
The appeals court made its decision largely on two technical legal grounds.
First, it ruled that the lower court judge wrongly instructed the jury that admissions slots constituted property. “We do not say the defendants’ conduct is at all desirable,” the decision said. But the appellate judges faulted the government for being too broad in its argument, to the point where “embellishments in a kindergarten application could constitute property fraud proscribed by federal law.”
The court also found that the government had failed to prove that the two men agreed to engage in a conspiracy with other parents, who were, like them, the clients of William Singer, known as Rick, a college admissions consultant to the rich, the mastermind of the admissions scheme.
Source: The New York Times
