A private-equity investor and former senior executive at Staples was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for filing false tax returns in which he claimed that payments he made to secure the admission of his son to the University of Southern California (USC) were tax deductible as both a business expense and a charitable contribution. The payments in question were made to ensure that his son would be admitted to USC.
Judge Leo T. Sorokin of the United States District Court in Massachusetts handed down the following sentence: one year of probation, with the first six months to be served in home detention, and 250 hours of community service for John Wilson, 64, of Lynnfield, Massachusetts. In addition to this, the judge ordered Wilson to make restitution in the sum of $88,546 and pay a fine of $75,000.
In October 2021, a federal jury found Wilson guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud; one count of conspiracy to commit federal programmes bribery; three counts of wire fraud and honest services wire fraud; two counts of federal programmes bribery; and one count of filing a false tax return. In addition, Wilson was found guilty of one count of filing a false tax return. Following this, in February of 2022, he was given a sentence that included 15 months in prison, two years of supervised release, 400 hours of community service, a fine of $200,000, and restitution in the sum of $88,546. He was also ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.
The conviction for submitting a false tax return was upheld by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in May 2023, while the court vacated and remanded the remaining charges of conviction.
According to evidence that was revealed during the trial, in 2013, Wilson agreed to pay William “Rick” Singer $220,000 to enable his son’s admittance to USC as a supposed water polo recruit in exchange for payments to the water polo team account. This was done in exchange for payments to be made to the water polo team account. Wilson made a request to Singer that he furnish him with a bogus invoice for business consulting fees so that Wilson could make the payments using the corporate account of his private investment firm. Singer complied with Wilson’s request. Wilson posed the following question: “Can we make it for consulting or whatever else from The Key so that I can pay it from the corporate account?” After Wilson’s son was granted admission to USC, Wilson used the corporate account of his company to send $100,000 to Singer’s fake charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation, another $100,000 to Singer’s for-profit corporation, The Key, and $20,000 to Singer himself. All of these transactions were completed via Wilson’s corporate account. Wilson made a fraudulent claim that he could deduct a portion of the payments as a business cost and the remaining amount as a contribution to charity. In 2018, Wilson once more approached Singer with the intention of asking him to secure the entrance of his two daughters to college as supposed athletic recruits in sports that they did not compete in at the collegiate level. Wilson questioned once more whether there was “any way” to make the payments “tax deductible as like donations to the school.” Singer responded that there was “no way” to make the payments “tax deductible.”
After having already entered a guilty plea, Singer was sentenced to a total of 42 months in jail on January 4, 2023.
You can learn more about the College Admissions Case by visiting the following website: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme.
Today’s announcement was made by Joshua S. Levy, who is acting as the United States Attorney; Jodi Cohen, who is the Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston Division; Harry Chavis, Jr., who is the Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Terry Harris, who is the Special Agent in Charge of the United States Department of Education Office of Inspector General Eastern Regional Office. The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant United States Attorneys Stephen E. Frank, Leslie A. Wright, Kristen A. Kearney, and Ian Stearns, all of whom work in the Securities, Financial, and Cyber Fraud Unit.
