Kelly alluded to the price Tobin and his family had paid since his decision to cooperate in a case brought against dozens of parents was leaked to news reporters.
“He has been in a form of a prison of his own for several years,” Kelly said. “He’s been crushed by this case. His family’s been in upheaval over this.”
Tobin was under investigation for the stock scheme in 2018 when he told the government that Yale University women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith was accepting bribes to designate unqualified students as soccer recruits, according to court filings. Tobin had played hockey at Yale.
“He told the government about the corrupt Yale soccer coach,” Kelly told Gorton in an impassioned speech to spare his client from prison.
It was the first time in open court that Tobin was revealed as the college scandal tipster.
Meredith cooperated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the pump-and-dump probe and admitted last year to taking more than $860,000 from parents determined to get their children into the elite school. The bribes were brokered through a phony charity run by corrupt college admissions strategist William “Rick” Singer. Singer cooperated with the government in the college scam case, secretly recording phone calls with his clients.
More than 50 people have been charged in the college case. Of the 38 parents accused, 28 have admitted guilt, including actor Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, who are to be sentenced on Aug. 21. Ten parents are scheduled for trial next year. None of the colleges or students swept up in the scandal were charged.
The pump-and-dump schemes run by Tobin and several others involved Swiss asset management firm Silverton. Silverton founder Roger Knox pleaded guilty this year to running a much larger global securities fraud that netted $164 million, according to the Justice Department. Pump-and-dump schemers boost the price of a stock they own, using phony recommendations, and then sell it to make money before it crashes.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.