Ex-Harvard Coach, Telecom CEO Go on Trial in Admissions-Bribery Case
- Jie Zhao allegedly paid coach $1.5 million to recruit his sons
- Defense says payments unrelated to sons’ Harvard admissions
Pedestrians walk through the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Photographer: Adam Glanzman/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Harvard University’s former fencing coach and a telecom CEO are facing a jury over charges that they corrupted the admissions process in a case with echoes of the “Varsity Blues” bribery scandal.
Jie “Jack” Zhao, chief executive officer of iTalk Global Communications Inc., is accused of bribing coach Peter Brand to “facilitate” getting his two sons into Harvard by having them designated fencing recruits. Prosecutors claim Zhao paid more than $1.5 million to Brand, both directly and by overpaying for the coach’s Boston-area house, paying off his car and covering some of his son’s college bills.