Boston Millionaire Gets Heftiest Sentence Yet for College Admissions Bribes

A father who paid $1.2 million in bribes for his three children to gain admission to elite universities as sports recruits was sentenced to 15 months in prison Wednesday in what is the longest sentence to date for a defendant ensnared in Operations Varsity Blues. John Wilson, a real estate and private equity investor, had paid $1 million for his twin daughters to be recruited to Stanford and Harvard for sports they didn’t play and $220,000 to have his son recruited to USC’s water polo team. To add insult to injury, Wilson later claimed part of the payments as a tax write-off. In addition to time in the slammer, he was fined $200,000 and ordered to complete 400 hours of community service. The federal judge in Boston said he was “dumbfounded and appalled” by Wilson’s conduct: “You stole admissions spots at good colleges from other students who did not have all of your advantages.”