Ex-Georgetown tennis coach convicted in admissions scandal


A former Georgetown University head tennis coach who pleaded guilty last fall to accepting bribes to help prospective students gain admission to the school was sentenced on Friday to more than two years in prison, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

The sentencing of trainer Gordon Ernst, 54, of Chevy Chase, Md., and Falmouth, Mass., to 30 months was the harshest sentence imposed so far in the federal investigation known as the ‘Operation Varsity Blues’, which focused on wealthy parents paying bribes to get their children into elite colleges.

“Mr. Ernst was one of the most prolific participants in cheating the college admissions system,” Rachael S. Rollins, the U.S. attorney, said in a statement. “He took nearly 3 $.5 million in bribes straight into his pocket and sold nearly two dozen slot machines in Georgetown to the highest bidder.”

Mr. Ernst pleaded guilty last fall to charges of conspiring to bribe federal programs and filing a false tax return, according to court documents.

“Mr. Ernst was a major driver of this corruption of the college admissions process, and the court’s conviction speaks volumes about the seriousness of his conduct,” Ms. Rollins said in the statement.

Lawyers for Mr. Ernst could not be reached for comment.

The disgraced former tennis coach was first arrested in March 2019, along with more than four dozen other coaches, parents and test center officials. Mr. Ernst pleaded guilty to accepting bribes to nominate at least 12 students as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team between 2012 and 2018. Some of these students did not play tennis in a manner competitive, according to court documents.

More than 50 people have been charged in connection with the scandal.

Mr. Ernst also failed to report any income from those bribes on his federal tax returns, according to a Justice Department statement. His sentencing is one of the latest installments in the Varsity Blues scandal, which has sparked new concerns about a college admissions system that often favors wealthy applicants.

Mr. Ernst worked alongside the person who prosecutors say was the leader of the college admissions program, William Singer, who had gone through Rick, a private college counselor who offered families wealthy a “side door” to the nation’s top universities, often using sports recruiters. like Mr. Ernst to obscure the qualifications of a college candidate. Mr Singer, who began cooperating with authorities in 2018, is one of four remaining defendants in the Varsity Blues case who have not yet been convicted. His hearing is scheduled for September.