USC accused of fraud by ‘Varsity Blues’ parent whose conviction was overturned

A Massachusetts father implicated in the “Varsity Blues� scandal filed suit Friday against the University of Southern California, seeking the return of a $100,000 donation he made in connection with his son’s admission, along with $75 million in damages for what he claims was fraud and deceit by the university.

John Wilson, a former executive at Gap and Staples, was convicted in 2021 of conspiracy, fraud and bribery in the college admission scheme. An appellate court tossed those charges last year, ruling prosecutors had not proved an “overarching conspiracy� with corrupt college counselor Rick Singer, and Wilson has since embarked on a campaign to clear his family’s name.

In addition to the suit against USC in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the 65-year-old has brought a defamation case against Netflix over a film about the scandal and gone on a media blitz about what he describes as an unjust prosecution that cost him his life’s savings.

“I do think it’s important for us to try to set the record straight and do whatever I can to help rebuild my family’s reputation,� Wilson said in an interview Friday.

Wilson hired Singer in 2010 to tutor his son, Johnny, and later advise him on college admission. The teen was admitted to USC as a water polo recruit in 2014 after Singer advised the family to donate $100,000 to the athletic department.

Federal prosecutors characterized that donation as an illegal bribe to USC. In his suit, Wilson contends that he confirmed Singer’s instruction to donate to the university with two employees — the head water polo coach and an athletics department administrator — who both said the gift would facilitate his son’s admission and was “in accordance with accepted school policies and certainly was not illegal or illicit.�

After federal prosecutors indicted Singer and 33 parents in 2019, USC said it had been a victim in the scheme and that it was a violation of university policy to accept donations to facilitate admissions.

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Wilson’s suit called that stance by USC “nothing short of reprehensible� in light of what he said university employees previously told him and said it fueled the criminal case against him. The suit criticized USC’s decision to keep the Wilson donation as “a deeply troubling double standard and a gross misuse of donor trust.�

In a statement, USC said, “This lawsuit, which dredges up events that occurred as many as 10 years ago, has no legal merit.�

The statement added that, in the wake of Varsity Blues, “USC made a number of significant changes to prevent abuse of the athletics admission process� including multiple layers of oversight.

Singer, the mastermind, was sentenced last year to 3½ years in prison. Some of his high-profile clients, including actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and Loughlin’s husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, served terms of five months or less.

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A jury convicted Wilson of filing a false tax return, bribery and several fraud-related charges, but his defense team appealed, arguing that admissions slots were not considered property for the purposes of mail and wire fraud. An appellate court agreed, throwing out all but the tax charge. After prosecutors declined to retry Wilson, a judge sentenced him to one year of probation — including six months of home confinement — for filing the false tax return.

Wilson said the $75 million in damages that he’s seeking is based on his legal fees — $10 million — and lost income, which he calculated at $4.5 million a year for six years.

“We took those numbers and essentially doubled them for the pain and suffering,� Wilson said.