A jury on Thursday found a Florida investor and CEO not guilty of charges that he bribed a Georgetown University figure for his daughter’s admission to the school, in part of the massive “varsity blues” college admission scandal that sent prominent actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman to prison.
The acquittal was characterized as “total vindication for both father and daughter,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
B/E Aerospace CEO Amin Khoury was declared not guilty of bribery and conspiracy to fraud and bribery after being accused of paying former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst almost $200,000 to put his daughter on the books as an athlete, raising her chances of being accepted to the prestigious university to almost certain.
Ernst pled guilty to soliciting and accepting bribes last year and faces up to four years in prison as well as forfeiture of $3,435,053.
Khoury is one of 40 parents who have been charged in the scandal, and the only who was found not guilty of charges.
A total of 56 parents and university officials have been convicted or pled guilty in the fallout of the varsity blues investigation, which was made public in 2019.
“These cases writ large have exposed the disturbing, improper, and inequitable role that wealth and privilege can play in distorting a system that is supposed to be merit based,” said U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins according to the Journal, despite her self-described disappointment over the verdict of Khoury’s trial.
Rollins expressed confidence that the cases involved with the admission scandal “have resulted in enormous and systemic changes in the college-admissions process.”