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The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown Parents, Former Coach Face Bribery Charges

A former Georgetown tennis coach was charged with accepting bribes from parents to secure their children’s college admission in an indictment involving eight U.S. universities Tuesday.

Gordon Ernst falsely designated at least 12 applicants, including those who did not play tennis competitively, as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team, according to the March 12 indictment. Ernst was the head coach of Georgetown’s men’s and women’s tennis teams from 2006 until December 2017, departing the university by January 2018.

Among the 12 defendants indicted for accepting bribes are athletic coaches from Yale University, Stanford University and the University of Southern California, among others.

FILE PHOTO: MOIRA RITTER FOR THE HOYA | Five Georgetown parents and a former GU tennis coach were implicated in a Tuesday indictment for falsely designating applicants as athletic recruits to secure admission.

The Department of Justice brought charges against 50 defendants in total, including parents of university students. While administrators of college entrance exams are implicated, no students or universities were charged.

Among the 30 parents charged are Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez, Stephen Semprevivo, Elisabeth Kimmel, and Douglas Hodge, all of whom have or had children at Georgetown University between 2013 and 2019.

Parents paid a fraudulent test proctor to supervise the SAT and falsified athletic records and admissions essays, according to the charges. None of the four accepted students played tennis competitively in high school.

The DOJ alleges Ernst received more than $2.7 million in bribes between 2012 and 2018, which he described as consulting fees, in documents released Tuesday.

Georgetown, which found Ernst had violated admissions policies in an internal investigation before he stopped coaching the tennis team in 2017, expressed its disapproval of his conduct following DOJ charges published Tuesday.

“Georgetown University is deeply disappointed to learn that former Tennis Coach Gordon Ernst is alleged to have committed criminal acts against the University that constitute an unprecedented breach of trust,” university spokesperson Meghan Dubyak wrote in a statement to The Hoya. “Georgetown cooperated fully with the government’s investigation. We are reviewing the details of the indictment and will take appropriate action.”

There is no indication other Georgetown officials were involved in the scheme, according to the Tuesday email. The university has taken new measures to mitigate fraud for candidates applying through the athletics channel, including audits to determine whether recruited student-athletes appear on rosters.

The university was unaware of Ernst’s acceptance of bribes until it was contacted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office following his departure from Georgetown, Vice President and General Counsel Lisa Brown and Vice President and Senior Advisor to the President Erik Smulson wrote in a Tuesday email to the campus community.

Georgetown’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Charles Deacon (CAS ’64, GRD ’69) referred all requests for comment to the university statement. Ernst had not responded to a request for comment as of press time.

Ernst was charged with racketeering conspiracy and ordered by the Department of Justice to forfeit over $2.7 million, a home in Chevy Chase, Md., his Chevy Chase country club membership and a financial account.

William Singer, who played a prominent role in the nationwide bribery scheme, used his company, Edge College & Career Network, as an intermediary between university officials and parents to give their children an advantage. Parents gave donations to Singer’s nonprofit foundation to mask the bribery, according to the indictment. Between 2011 and 2019, Singer took in $25 million from parents.

The indictment was the largest concerning fraud in the college application process, according to Andrew Lelling, a U.S. attorney in Boston who helped prosecute the case.

Ernst has served as the head women’s tennis coach at the University of Rhode Island since August 2018. The University of Rhode Island placed Ernst on administrative leave Tuesday after becoming aware of the indictment, according to a URI news release.

This is a developing story. This post will be updated as more information becomes available.

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  • C

    Current Student AthleteMar 28, 2019 at 5:18 pm

    I am a current student athlete on a high-performing team at Georgetown University and can confirm that NO “pre-made” blue books or other forms of cheating are made available to us, star player or not.

    The scandal which has taken place in no way should segway into gossip about the larger athletic community; athletes at Georgetown were admitted by their own merit and balance scholastic/academic demands by virtue of our own hard work.

    Reply
  • T

    Tony Eben '68Mar 14, 2019 at 10:36 am

    The above comment was submitted by Tony Eben”68.

    Reply
  • C

    Cindy SchlesingerMar 14, 2019 at 10:30 am

    At least these events take the attention away from black face depicted in Hoya yearbooks.

    Reply
  • H

    Hoya ParentMar 13, 2019 at 9:40 pm

    I echo Ms. Eshleman’s comment. I thought there was a code of conduct in place on matriculating that a student would behave ethically and honourably at all times or suffer consequences. Doesn’t cheating your way into the university also implicitly violate that code? One reads reports (fake news?) that the student in question gloated over cheating her way through the SAT exam (PS: the “fake” score I have seen in the press is way below the level I thought GS required btw). Sorry but I think GS has to step up to the mark on this too, for the sake of all those students who did – and continue to do – the right thing.

    Reply
    • H

      Hoya ParentMar 13, 2019 at 9:47 pm

      oops – autocorrect. For GS read GU. You all get my point though?

      Reply
  • H

    HoyaAlumMar 13, 2019 at 5:37 pm

    This isn’t surprising at all given the complete lack of meaningful internal controls inside the university’s records and accounting departments.

    Reply
    • H

      HoyaAlumMar 13, 2019 at 5:47 pm

      Example: Former Georgetown Professor Yossi Shain spent over $15,000 in school funds on plane tickets for himself and never faced any consequences for it.

      Reply
  • M

    Michael StoneMar 13, 2019 at 4:01 pm

    No mention of the fact that the indictment plainly identifies a current student as a participant in admissions fraud? No mention of the fact that such fraud would be a violation of the Honor Code and/or the certification included in the admissions process? I’m assuming that an editorial on this will be forthcoming.

    Reply
  • S

    Susan EshlemanMar 13, 2019 at 4:55 am

    What action will be taken against the students who knew they were wrongly given extra time on college entrance exams or who supplied test scores that were not theirs or who falsely claimed they played a sport on their admissions applications? If nothing happens to these students could someone explain how these students didn’t know what was going on? Did they sign admissions applications that they didn’t prepare? That would be wrong too. Maybe athletes don’t have to fill out applications?

    Reply
    • M

      Mickey LeeMar 13, 2019 at 2:05 pm

      I address it in my petition in my previous comment. Please sign and share with your friends.

      Reply
    • H

      HoyaAlumMar 13, 2019 at 5:42 pm

      What’s funny is that the university has always had “tutors” that prepared pre-made blue exam books for star athletes come finals.

      It is easy to see how the Tennis Coach got away with the scam for so long. The tennis program kinda sucked for a long time to a point where the University administration didn’t even pretend to care about it like they do with the football program.

      Reply
  • M

    Mickey LeeMar 12, 2019 at 10:00 pm

    Reply
    • H

      HoyaAlumMar 13, 2019 at 5:46 pm

      HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

      >implying that Jack Degioia cared about anything beyond money

      Reply