Federal appeals court overturns two convictions in 'Varsity Blues' college admissions scandal

A federal appeals court in Boston overturned two convictions related to the "Varsity Blues" scandal in which wealthy parents attempted to influence the admissions of elite colleges and universities around the country.

In 2021, Gamal Abdelaziz and John Wilson were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud and bribery to schools that received federal funds. Prosecutors alleged that Abdelaziz and Wilson were paying bribes to Rick Singer, a college admissions consultant, who would pay admission officials and athletic coaches at Stanford and USC under a fake charity. Singer would not only send along fake test scores to admission offices, but pass along some of these students as elite athletes despite not playing sports competitively.

However, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals took aim at the "honest services theory" utilized by the government that underpinned its case. From the Boston Globe:

The court noted that the government alleged that Wilson and Abdelaziz conspired to commit two types of mail and wire fraud: honest services fraud, by using their payments to deprive the universities of the honest services of their employees, and property fraud, by depriving the universities of property in the form of “admissions slots.”

“We do hold that the government’s honest services theory is invalid as a matter of law” based on a previous Supreme Court decision “and that, on the arguments offered by the government, the district court erred in instructing the jury that admissions slots constitute property,” the appeals court wrote, adding that it was vacating the mail and wire fraud convictions of Wilson and Abdelaziz.

In the original trials, Abdelaziz allegedly paid to have his daughter admitted to USC as a top-ranked basketball recruit while Wilson was believed to have pushed for his children to be admitted to USC, Harvard and Stanford as athletes. All but one charge — a false tax filing by Wilson — were overturned. 

"Operation: Varsity Blues" dominated the news cycle for parts of 2019 and 2020 against the backdrop of the never-ending rising costs of college. The federal government brought various charges against 51 people, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. The most high-profile convictions were Loughlin and her husband, who each served short stints in prison. Dozens of people pleaded guilty to various roles in the ordeal, but at least one person who was convicted had an overturned sentence prior to Abdelaziz and Wilson's successful appeals.