Former USC water polo coach wins new U.S. college admissions scandal trial

FILE PHOTO – Jovan Vavic, a former water polo coach on the University of Southern California, arrives on the federal courthouse for the trial for his position within the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., March 10, 2022. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

BOSTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – A federal decide has put aside the conviction of a former University of Southern California water polo coach charged with collaborating in an unlimited U.S. college admissions fraud and bribery scheme and on Thursday ordered a new trial.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston stated the prosecution throughout closing arguments misstated what it wanted to show for jurors to search out Jovan Vavic responsible of accepting bribes to assist rich dad and mom’ kids acquire admission to USC.

Vavic’s attorneys and the prosecution didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

His trial was the second to outcome from the “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation, which uncovered how rich dad and mom went to extremes to safe spots for his or her kids at faculties like Stanford, Yale and USC.

They did so with the assistance of William “Rick” Singer, a California college admissions advisor who admitted in 2019 to facilitating college entrance examination dishonest and bribing coaches to safe his purchasers’ kids’s admission as phony athletes.

Prosecutors had claimed that in trade for about $200,000 bribes, Vavic misled USC admissions officers into believing that unqualified highschool college students belonged on his championship water polo group.

Because prosecutors a lot of that cash, $100,000, was to designate the son of a non-public fairness financier as a pretend athletic recruit, Talawani stated the federal government wanted to show the cash benefited Vavic whereas harming USC’s pursuits.

But Talwani stated a prosecutor misstated the regulation by arguing throughout closing arguments that jurors might convict Vavic primarily based solely on a misrepresentation {and professional} advantages he gained from bringing in cash and nothing extra.

“And, however distasteful, there is nothing inherently illegal about a private institution accepting money in exchange for a student’s admission,” Talwani stated.

Fifty-three different folks have pleaded responsible or been convicted at trial, together with actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. Two dad and mom have been convicted in a single trial, whereas one other was acquitted in June.

Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston
Editing by Josie Kao

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