Savanna Hoffman
In 2019, a college admissions cheating scandal implicated several wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who were charged with bribing college coaches and others to secure spots for their children at top universities. Georgetown University was one of the targeted institutions, with its former tennis coach, Gordon Ernst, allegedly accepting $2.7 million in bribes as part of the conspiracy. The scandal sparked discussions among Georgetown students about privilege and the admissions process, with the university implementing new policies to strengthen the recruitment and admissions process for student-athletes.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of Student | Not mentioned in sources |
| Name of Coach | Gordon Ernst |
| Coach's Position | Former tennis coach |
| Coach's Tenure | 2006 to 2017 |
| Amount of Bribe | $2.7 million |
| Other Conspirators | More than 40 others, including coaches from several universities |
| Company Involved | The Key Worldwide |
| Company CEO | William Singer |
| Amount Received by Company CEO | $25 million |
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What You'll Learn
Gordon Ernst, former tennis coach, was allegedly bribed
Gordon Ernst, the former Georgetown University head tennis coach, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for accepting bribes from the families of prospective Georgetown applicants. Ernst was involved in a conspiracy with William "Rick" Singer, the mastermind of the bribery scheme. Ernst used his six recruitment slots to recruit unqualified students in exchange for bribes. Over a decade, he accepted nearly $3.5 million in bribes and facilitated the admission of at least 22 students, 19 of whom were Singer's clients.
The college admissions scandal involved wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, who were charged with cheating to get their children into top universities. The universities themselves were not accused of any wrongdoing and conducted internal investigations.
Ernst was the first to be sentenced among those charged in the case. He was ordered to forfeit $3,435,053, including more than $1.3 million in assets seized in 2019. In addition to conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and federal programs bribery, Ernst was also found guilty of filing a false tax return as he failed to report the bribe payments on his federal income tax returns.
Ernst's lawyers argued that he had tried to turn his life around since his 2019 arrest, working part-time jobs as a tennis instructor, hockey referee, and rental car cleaner. They requested a sentence of about a year, portraying Ernst as someone who, like Icarus, "flew too close to the sun and forgot his wings were made of wax." However, prosecutors sought a tougher sentence, and Ernst received two and a half years in prison, the strictest punishment in the college admissions bribery scandal at the time.
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Ernst is accused of accepting $2.7 million in bribes
In 2019, Gordie Ernst, the former women's tennis coach at the University of Rhode Island, was accused of accepting $2.7 million in bribes during his time at Georgetown University. Ernst was charged in a sweeping college admissions bribery case, dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, and pleaded not guilty in Boston federal court.
Prosecutors charged Ernst with racketeering conspiracy, alleging that he worked with college admissions consultant William "Rick" Singer to help wealthy parents get their children into Georgetown through the college's tennis program. In exchange for bribes, Ernst designated at least 12 applicants as tennis recruits, some of whom had no competitive tennis experience. The scheme involved funneling money through a charity supposedly helping underserved children.
One example involved a Georgetown applicant whose parents schemed with Singer to falsify her SAT scores. The proctor gave her the correct answers in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars, boosting her score by 320 points. Singer, who began cooperating with authorities, described the scheme in recorded conversations with parents. In one call, he said, "Of course, I am not going to say anything about — that our payment went to help (your son) get into Georgetown, and the payment was made to Coach Gordie Ernst and Georgetown tennis and obviously (your son) wasn’t a tennis player."
Ernst's tenure at URI was short-lived, and he resigned from his position after being placed on leave in March 2019. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains free on bond with travel restrictions. His lawyer, Tracy Miner, stated that Ernst needed to find a job and take care of his mother in Rhode Island.
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Georgetown University officials were deeply troubled
At the centre of the scandal involving Georgetown University was former tennis coach Gordon Ernst. Ernst, who was the head coach for the men's and women's tennis teams at Georgetown from 2006 to 2017, was alleged to have accepted bribes totalling $2.7 million as part of a conspiracy with The Key Worldwide, a college preparation company. Ernst and over 40 others, including coaches from several universities, helped facilitate cheating on college entrance exams and designated students as athletic recruits, even if they did not play the sport. The CEO of The Key Worldwide, William Singer, was paid millions by parents eager to secure their children's admission to elite schools.
In a letter to the Georgetown University community, school officials expressed their distress at Ernst's alleged actions, calling them "shocking, highly antithetical to our values, and violate numerous university policies and ethical standards." They also reassured the community that they had no indication that any other Georgetown employees were involved. As a result of the scandal, the university implemented new policies to strengthen the recruitment and admissions process for student athletes, including audits to ensure that recruited student-athletes are on the roster for the sport they were recruited for.
The fallout from the college admissions scam extended beyond Georgetown University, with another Catholic university, the University of San Diego, also named as a victim by federal prosecutors. A former coach at the University of San Diego was alleged to have taken bribes to help students enrol, although charges were still pending. The scandal prompted a broader discussion about privilege and the role of wealth and influence in college admissions, with Georgetown students calling for a more transparent and equitable process.
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Ernst conspired with college prep company, The Key Worldwide
In 2019, a college admissions cheating scandal was exposed, revealing that wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, had been charged in a US college cheating scam to get their children into top universities, including Georgetown University.
William "Rick" Singer, the orchestrator of the conspiracy, owned and operated the Edge College & Career Network LLC (The Key) – a for-profit college counselling and preparation business. Singer conspired with dozens of parents, athletic coaches, and university athletics administrators to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure the admission of students to colleges. This included cheating on college entrance exams and bribing university athletic coaches and administrators to designate applicants as athletic recruits based on fabricated credentials.
Gordon Ernst, the former head coach of the men's and women's tennis teams at Georgetown University, was charged in connection with the scandal. Ernst conspired with Singer and his company, The Key Worldwide Foundation, a purported charity established by Singer. Between 2012 and 2018, Ernst received more than $2.7 million in bribes from Singer, falsely labelled as consulting fees and transferred through the foundation's charitable accounts. Ernst spent 12 years as Georgetown's tennis coach before taking up a position at the University of Rhode Island, where he was placed on administrative leave following the indictment.
Singer's scheme involved disguising bribe payments as charitable contributions, enabling clients to deduct the bribes from their federal income taxes. Singer accepted more than $25 million from his clients, of which he paid bribes totalling more than $7 million. Singer was sentenced to 42 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution of over $10 million and to forfeit assets worth more than $8 million.
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The scandal involved cheating on college entrance exams
In 2022, a college admissions cheating scam was uncovered in the United States, involving wealthy Americans, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, CEOs, exam administrators, and university athletic coaches. The scam involved bribing SAT and ACT exam administrators to allow a test-taker, typically Riddell, to secretly take the exams in place of the students or correct their answers after they had finished. This was achieved by bribing administrators and having students pretend to have learning disabilities to obtain the required medical documentation to get extended time on their exams.
William "Rick" Singer, owner and operator of the Edge College & Career Network LLC ("The Key"), was charged with racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, and obstruction of justice. Singer facilitated the cheating by instructing his clients to seek extended time for their children on college entrance exams. He established relationships with test administrators Niki Williams and Igor Dvorskiy, who accepted bribes of $10,000 per test to allow Riddell to take the exams or give the answers to the students. Singer's clients paid him between $15,000 and $75,000 per test, disguised as donations to his purported charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF).
In addition to exam cheating, the conspiracy also involved bribing athletic coaches and administrators at Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas to facilitate the admission of students as purported athletic recruits. False athletic profiles were created for students, which included fake honors and elite teams they supposedly played on.
This scandal highlights the lengths to which some wealthy individuals will go to secure admission to elite universities, including cheating on college entrance exams and bribing university officials. It is a stark reminder of the importance of maintaining fair and transparent admission processes to ensure that all candidates are evaluated based on their merits and not their financial status or connections.
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Frequently asked questions
The name of the student has not been released to the public.
The former tennis coach, Gordon Ernst, was allegedly involved in the college admissions scam. Ernst was charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering and accused of accepting $2.7 million in bribes.
Ernst, along with more than 40 others, including coaches from several universities, were allegedly part of a conspiracy with the college preparation company, The Key Worldwide, which helped facilitate cheating on college entrance exams and bribed coaches to propose students as athletic recruits.
