Sept. 3 (UPI) — A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted another parent in the sweeping college admissions scandal for allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to have his daughter admitted to Georgetown as a tennis recruit.
Amine Khoury, 54, who has properties in both Palm Beach, Fla., and Mashpee, Mass., was indicted on one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, the Justice Department said.
The indictment states that Khoury in December 2014 agreed to pay $200,000 to Gordon Ernst, who was the head coach of Georgetown’s men’s and women’s tennis teams at the time, to have his daughter admitted to the university as a tennis recruit even though her skills were “below that of a typical Georgetown tennis recruit.”
After the university rated his daughter’s admission as “likely,” the indictment alleges that Khoury flew to Massachusetts with $200,000 in cash to meet with a third-party to deliver to Ernst in addition to providing the third-party with $20,000.
The third-party then allegedly met with Ernst’s spouse and gave her $170,000 after taking $10,000 as an additional fee and that Ernst “continued to pursue” Khoury to collect the remaining $20,000 owed as part of the recruitment deal.
Khoury faces a potential sentence of five years prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 for the mail fraud charge and up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine for the bribery charge.
