The “godfather” behind the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal told one parent who wanted to bribe his daughters’ way into Harvard that it would take about $1.2 million, but it would have its perks.
In a recording of one of William “Rick” Singer’s phone calls with former Staples and Gap Inc. executive John Wilson, Wilson responded, “Jesus.”
But Singer said, “The great thing about going to Harvard is once I get you in, you can do whatever you want. They don’t care.”
Wilson and former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz are on trial on charges they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to help get their kids into the University of Southern California by falsely presenting them as athletic recruits. Wilson also is accused of paying more than $1 million to buy his twin daughters’ ways into Harvard and Stanford.
On Wednesday, the third day of testimony in the trial in federal court in Boston, Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Frank showed jurors multiple emails between Singer, parents, and others, including one from March 2018 to Abdelaziz, thanking him for his “generous donation” of $300,000 to Singer’s Key Worldwide Foundation, adding the money would benefit disadvantaged youngsters.
Another email, from Leslie Wilson to Singer, said her children “would love your counseling about essays.” Singer later replied in an email to Wilson that he had taken “the liberty of completing (one) essay.”
Not long after John and Leslie Wilson paid Singer to get their son into USC, he wrote to former water polo coach Jovan Vavic that he was resigning from the team because he had had three concussions and wanted to concentrate on his academics.
Recordings of conversations between Singer and Donna Heinel, the former senior associate athletic director at USC, discussed “structuring” some donations, which FBI Special Agent Keith Brown told jurors meant breaking them into smaller amounts to evade taxes.
Under cross-examination by one of Abdelaziz’s attorneys, Brian Kelly, FBI Special Agent Keith Brown said he had not read all of the emails about Abdelaziz’s children.
“You didn’t pick all the emails that we saw here,” Kelly said. “The government cherry-picked them.”
Singer, who began cooperating with investigators in 2018 and secretly recorded his phone calls with the parents, was expected to be a key witness for the government. But prosecutors told jurors on Monday they will not call him to the stand.
The trial is expected to last several weeks. Defense lawyers have claimed that the parents were duped by Singer and led to believe that their payments were legitimate donations.
