A former Harvard fencing coach was acquitted Wednesday of charges that he accepted more than US$1.5 million in bribes in exchange for designating a wealthy businessman's two sons as recruits to help secure their admission to the elite university.
Jurors found Peter Brand not guilty of conspiracy and bribery charges more than three years after a newspaper reported that Brand sold his run-down home for an inflated price to the businessman, Jie "Jack" Zhao. Zhao, of Potomac, Maryland. Zhao was also acquitted of the same charges.
Unlike in the cases of many of the parents charged in the college admissions bribery scandal, prosecutors did not allege that the Zhao boys' athletic credentials were fabricated or trumped up. And prosecutors said that the teens might have gotten into Harvard on their own merit. But prosecutors argued that Zhao wasn't willing to take that risk.
"We are grateful to the jury for their service and for doing justice in this case," Bill Weinreb, an attorney for Zhao, said in an email. Douglas Brooks, Brand's lawyer, said in an email that "the verdict today exonerates Peter Brand who is 100% innocent." In his closing argument, Brand's lawyer called it an "alleged crime in search of a victim," saying prosecutors provided no evidence the teens took slots away from more qualified recruits. He said that if Zhao wanted to bribe Brand, he could have done so with a bag of cash. Instead, Zhao purchased the home in his own name and paid Brand's bills using his own checks.
Brand didn't disclose the payments from Zhao to Harvard, authorities said, and Brand was fired from the school in July 2019 for violating its conflict-of-interest policy.
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