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Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, and Peter Brand, 67, were arrested on Monday and charged with conspiring to defraud federal programs through bribery, the Massachusetts district attorney’s office said.
Zhao is the CEO of a telecommunications company called iTalk Global Communications and Brand was the fencing coach at Harvard University from 1999 until last year when he was fired from the institution of higher education following a media investigation into the sale of a suspected expensive house by him.
Both men denied having committed a crime.
“The students were school and fencing stars. Coach Brand made no mistake about their admission to Harvard. He can’t wait for the truth to come out in court,” Brand’s attorney said.
The arrests are just the latest two in a series that began in March 2019 in connection with fraudulent admission to American universities, the scheme involving affluent parents who used their wealth to defraud standardized tests provided by their children or corrupt sports coaches. .
“This case is part of our long-term commitment to expose and discourage corruption in the college admissions process,” said Attorney Andrew E. Lelling.
Zhao’s attorney denied the allegations against his client in an email sent Monday to CNN.
“Jack Zhao’s sons were school stars and internationally renowned fencers who were admitted to Harvard for their merits,” he said, adding that “Mr. Zhao vehemently denies these allegations and will vigorously challenge them in court.”
The two can receive up to 5 years in prison if found guilty of conspiracy, but other parents who have been charged with similar crimes have generally been sentenced to several months in prison.
Fraud scheme
College coaches cannot decide for themselves who is admitted to college, but their recommendations on recruiting certain athletes can strongly influence the admissions process.
Prosecutors say Zhao made a series of payments of $ 1.5 million to coach Brand in exchange for recruiting his two sons to the fencing team, facilitating their admission to the prestigious university.
“Jack doesn’t have to get me anywhere and his boys don’t have to be extraordinary fencers,” Brand told another person involved in the fraud in May 2020, according to prosecutors’ indictment. “I just need a good incentive to recruit them. You can tell them [lui Zhao]He would have added.
The businessman allegedly made a $ 1 million donation in February 2013 to a charity run by another person involved in the program, according to prosecutors.
Zhao’s eldest son was recruited to the Harvard University fencing team in December 2013 and enrolled in college in the fall of 2014. Shortly thereafter, the $ 1 million charity paid $ 100,000. to a charitable foundation run by Brand, prosecutors say.
The eldest son graduated from Harvard in 2018, according to the Boston Globe. After Brand also recruited Zhao’s youngest son, the businessman began making a series of payments directly to the coach, according to US prosecutors.
Zhao allegedly paid Brand’s car, his son’s college tuition, the mortgage, and then bought his house well above market value.
The payments would have allowed the coach to buy a much closer house and therefore Zhao would have paid for his renovation, according to the indictment.
Zhao’s youngest son began his studies at Harvard in 2017, prosecutors alleged that Brand had hidden the amount of money he received for recruiting the two boys from the university.
The real estate deal was the one that attracted the attention of the university and federal prosecutors, the press reported.
Brand sold Zhao’s home for $ 989,500, according to the deed of sale, nearly double its real value. Zhao then sold the property 17 months later for a loss of $ 300,000.
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