January 1, Two parents convicted in 1st trial of college admissions scandal

A jury found two parents guilty of buying their children’s way into college erroneously in the first case of the highly publicized college admissions scandal to go to trial.

Former casino executive Gamal Abdelaziz and former Staples Inc. executive John Wilson were found guilty after about 10 hours of deliberations in the case that exposed a scheme to get children of wealthy parents into college by falsely portraying them as star athletes.

“What they did was an affront to hardworking students and parents, but the verdict today proves that even these defendants — powerful and privileged people — are not above the law,” Acting Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Nathaniel Mendell said.

Abdelaziz was charged for paying $300,000 to erroneously get his daughter into the University of Southern California as a basketball recruit. Wilson allegedly paid $220,000 to have his son designated as a USC water polo recruit and an additional $1 million to buy his twin daughters’ ways into Harvard and Stanford.

They will be sentenced in February.

An additional 31 parents have pled guilty, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin.

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2 parents are convicted in the 1st trial of the ‘Varsity Blues’ admission scandal