Kennedy Family Friend Gets Longest Sentence in Varsity Blues Scandal

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Kennedy Family Friend Gets Longest Sentence in Varsity Blues Scandal

John Wilson, a private equity investor, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for paying more than $1.2 million to secure the admissions of his son and twin daughters into USC, Stanford and Harvard as fake athletes.

The sentence was issued by Judge Nathaniel Gorton on Wednesday and is the longest issued thus far in the Operation Varsity Blues case.

Convicted by a jury last fall on conspiracy, wire fraud, bribery and false tax return charges, Wilson had urged for leniency partly based on letters authored by members of the Kennedy family. Wilson also insisted that his conduct, while blameworthy, was less so than other parents who have been sentenced. Wilson neither arranged for test-cheating nor directly bribed college employees. The children, who didn’t know they were beneficiaries of their dad’s scheme, are depicted as standout students with high SAT scores and, in the case of the son, possessing some degree of athletic prowess....

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