A Massachusetts businessman convicted of spending more than $1.2 million to bribe his children’s way into elite universities is asking to be let out of jail while his case is on appeal.
Lawyers for John Wilson of Lynnfield, a former Staples and Gap Inc. executive, filed a motion Friday requesting that Wilson be released from prison pending his appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit, in Boston.
Wilson is asking for release, the filing states, so that he won’t be forced to serve his time before he’s exhausted his appeals.
Wilson, one of the first convicted in the federal “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation into a criminal conspiracy to influence college admissions, was sentenced Feb. 16 in federal court on a medley of mail fraud and bribery charges to 15 months in prison, two years of supervised release, 400 hours of community service and a fine of $200.
Wilson’s attorneys wrote in their filing that the law allows for release pending appeal if the defendant establishes two things: no danger to the public or flight risk and that the appeal is “not merely for purposes of delay, but rather presents ‘substantial’ questions” — both tests they say he meets — that could result in a favorable outcome in the appeal.
Wilson in 2013 agreed to pay William “Rick” Singer — who owned a college counseling company called “The Key” that really helped children of the elite cheat on entrance exams and, in this and other cases, helped draft fake sporting stats to gain entrance as sports recruits — $220,000 to facilitate his son’s admission to the USC as a fake water polo recruit. The fake stats, according to a court filing, would have made his son the fastest swimmer on the team.
The payments to Singer were broken up into “donations” and “consulting fees,” according to court filings, that Wilson then deducted from his 2014 tax return.
Wilson and Singer went back to work together in 2018 — the same time that Singer began cooperating with law enforcement. Wilson asked if there was “a two for one special for twins” for his newly college-aged twin daughters. Neither were Division I-level athletes, but Singer agreed to “make them a sailor or something.”
Wilson agreed to pay Singer $1.5 million to secure the admission of his twin daughters to Harvard and Stanford as fake athletic recruits.
Varsity Blues convicted briber wants out of prison ahead of pending appeal - Boston Herald
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