BOSTON (AP) — A Pennsylvania male who pleaded responsible to bribing a Georgetown University tennis coach to get his daughter into the college was sentenced Thursday to about a month in household detention.
Robert Repella, a previous pharmaceutical govt, agreed to fork out then-Georgetown tennis mentor Gordon Ernst at the very least $120,000 to have his daughter specified as a tennis recruit for the Washington D.C. university, prosecutors claimed.
Compared with other mothers and fathers charged in the sprawling higher education admissions bribery scandal who bribed coaches and many others via a middleman — admissions expert, Rick Singer — Repella organized the deal right with Ernst, prosecutors explained.
Repella, of Ambler, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to a single yr of probation, with property detention by means of Labor Working day. He was also ordered to serve 220 hrs of group service and spend a $220,000 fine.
Prosecutors experienced sought a month powering bars, stating he “took an lively position in the scheme by initiating e-mails and meetings with Ernst.”
Repella’s lawyer mentioned in court docket papers that his client’s daughter had the grades and athletic capability to get into Georgetown and play tennis there.
Ernst advised Repella that he experienced to guidance the tennis system if he required his daughter to enjoy there, and instructed him to create blank checks to make confident the cash actually go to the method, but Ernst pocketed the cash as a substitute, Repella’s legal professional mentioned.
“We are delighted that Mr. Repella acquired probation and that a single of the key things that led to that end result is that his daughter’s academic and athletic information and facts submitted to Georgetown was entirely precise,” protection attorney Robert Fisher mentioned in an e mail. “His daughter just lately graduated from Georgetown and is in great standing with the university.”
Repella pleaded responsible in 2020 to conspiracy to dedicate mail fraud and sincere services mail fraud.
Ernst, who at the time coached former President Barack Obama’s spouse and children, was sentenced in July to 2 1/2 a long time in prison for pocketing extra than $3 million in bribes in exchange for…