$ 50,000 fine, no prosecution against former college fraud coach | National News

Boston (AP) —Federal prosecutors said a former Wake Forest University coach charged with a college admission fraud scandal paid a $ 50,000 fine and followed certain conditions, according to a court document opened Tuesday. , Promised to withdraw the proceedings.

The postponed prosecution agreement filed in the proceedings against William Ferguson accepts responsibility for his role in the plan, but if he pays a fine and complies with the terms of the agreement, the prosecutor will say 24 months later. He states that he will move to dismiss his proceedings.

Announcements of transactions that other defendants indicted in large proceedings have not previously received will be made a few days after the prosecutor. Won conviction against two wealthy parents In the first trial of a high-profile scandal, he was accused of purchasing a path to school for children as an athlete.

Ferguson was initially scheduled to be tried in November with Donna Heinel, a former senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California, and Giovambavic, a former USC water polo coach.

Judge Indira Tarwani of the US District Court approved a deferral of prosecution agreement on Tuesday and agreed to postpone Ferguson’s proceedings. He was charged with postal fraud and wire fraud, as well as conspiracy to attempt mail fraud and wire fraud for honest services.

A message requesting comment was sent to Ferguson’s lawyer and the Federal Attorney’s Office in Boston, where all college admission scandal cases were prosecuted.

The prosecutor said the agreement allowed Ferguson to “show good deeds” and filed an indictment against him “representing the prosecution’s discretion to waive the indictment.”

According to a “statement of agreed facts” submitted to the court, Ferguson recruited admission consultant Rick Singer, who is the mastermind of the scheme, and other coaches to work with the singer in 2016 to work with the athletic program. He states that he has agreed to nominate the applicant as a newcomer in exchange. According to Filing, Ferguson tried to persuade some school coaches to work with the singer.

After being hired as head coach for women’s volleyball at a school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Ferguson agreed to help singer accept applicants as new employees in exchange for “what is to be donated,” Filing said. I am. The student was on the school’s waiting list.

The singer paid $ 100,000 to three accounts, including $ 40,000 for Wake Forest Women’s Volleyball and $ 50,000 for a private volleyball camp directed by Ferguson. According to the document, Ferguson then transferred some money from his camp account to his personal bank account and used that money for personal expenses.

Ferguson resigned from Wake Forest in 2019. Arrested with 49 others in a spotlight on the college admission process And the length that some wealthy parents go to take their children to the elite college.

Overall, 57 people were indicted in the case and about four dozen were found guilty.

Several other coaches have admitted that they have received bribes on Singer’s plans, including Jorge Salsed, a former male soccer coach at the University of California, Los Angeles. Former Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst, accused of accepting more than $ 2 million to help children enter school, is expected to plead guilty later this month.

Friday’s jury was former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz and former Staples Inc after more than three weeks of trial. Convicted John Wilson, an executive of.

Abdelaziz was charged with paying $ 300,000 to get his daughter into the USC as a new basketball employee, even though he didn’t appear on the high school national team. Wilson, who heads a private equity firm in Massachusetts, accused him of paying $ 220,000 to designate his son as a USC waterball recruit and $ 1 million to buy a way for his twin daughters to Harvard and Stanford. it was done.

They will be sentenced to prison in February.

Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.

$ 50,000 fine, no prosecution against former college fraud coach | National News

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