Former Pimco CEO Douglas Hodge, who admitted paying bribes of more than $625,000 to get his children into the University of Southern California and Georgetown University, should serve two years in prison, federal prosecutors said in a court filing.
Hodge used a corrupt college admissions counselor’s “side door” scheme more often and longer than any of the other 35 parents charged in the scandal, according to the U.S.
Hodge stopped fighting the charges in October when he pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit fraud and to money laundering, saying he was “ashamed” of his conduct. He faces sentencing on Friday in Boston.
Prosecutors said in Monday’s filing that Hodge paid the bribes over the course of a decade to win places for two children at USC and two at Georgetown, all as phony athletic recruits. He was secretly recorded in 2018 trying to get a fifth child into Loyola Marymount University, prosecutors say.
Hodge’s lawyers contend in their own filing that their client’s crimes are similar to those of Toby MacFarlane, who got six months in prison, the longest sentence given so far in the admissions case. They said Hodge accepts full responsibility and is “unequivocally remorseful.”
Some parents caught up in the scam paid tens of thousands of dollars to rig their children’s entrance exam scores, the government says. To lock in a seat an an elite university from Stanford to Georgetown to Yale, others allegedly paid hundreds of thousands in bribes for athletic coaches to put their kids’ names on recruiting lists. Some did both, according to prosecutors. The Department of Justice says it’s the biggest college admissions racket it has ever prosecuted. None of the students or colleges were charged.
Among his bribes, Hodge directly paid $150,000 to former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, according to prosecutors. Ernst has pleaded not guilty to racketeering.
Hodge approved phony athletic profiles that the scam’s admitted mastermind, Rick Singer, created for his children. One child was represented as a top youth tennis player, another as co-captain of a national soccer team.
For the fifth child’s placement as a basketball recruit at Loyola, Hodge sought Singer’s help again. This time he agreed to pay $200,000 for “Rick’s magic,” he said. Loyola’s basketball coach ultimately rejected that application because of poor high school grades, prosecutors told the court.
Trials for 15 parents still fighting the charges could begin in October. Many of them argue they made legitimate donations to colleges and had no knowledge that Singer was bribing coaches.
The case is U.S. v. Sidoo, 19-cr-10080, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts (Boston).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.