LYNNFIELD — John B. Wilson of Lynnfield was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 15 months in prison and fined $200,000 for using fraud and bribery to secure his three children’s admissions into elite universities, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
Wilson, 62, was also sentenced to two years of supervised release and 400 hours of community service for his role in the college-admissions conspiracy, which has been dubbed the Varsity Blues case.
Wilson was convicted by a federal jury in October 2021 for three counts of wire fraud and honest services wire fraud, two counts of federal programs bribery, and one count each of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
The Lynnfield parent was found guilty of conspiring to use fraud and bribery to secure the admission of his son to the University of Southern California (USC) and his twin daughters to Harvard and Stanford universities by purporting them to be Division I athletic recruits, prosecutors said.
In 2013, Wilson agreed to pay William “Rick” Singer — the college-admissions scheme mastermind — $220,000 to facilitate his son’s admission to USC as a purported water-polo recruit. The scheme involved presenting Wilson’s son to USC’s subcommittee on athletic admissions using a water-polo profile that included fabricated credentials, awards and swim times, prosecutors said.
After Wilson’s son was accepted to USC, Wilson wired $100,000 to Singer’s sham charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF); $100,000 to Singer’s company, The Key; and $20,000 directly to Singer, prosecutors said.
Wilson, a private-equity investor and former senior Staples executive, paid the bribe from the corporate account of his private-investment firm and falsely deducted part of it as a business expense and the remainder as a charitable contribution, prosecutors said.
In 2018, Wilson agreed to pay Singer $1.5 million to secure the admission of his twin daughters to Harvard and Stanford universities as purported athletic recruits.
Wilson was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $88,546 to the IRS on Oct. 8, 2021.
Singer has previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.
