Georgetown Tennis Coach Pleads Guilty To Charges in College Admissions Scandal

Former Georgetown University tennis coach Gordon Ernst will plead guilty to accepting more than $2 million of bribe money in exchange for helping unqualified kids from wealthy families get into the elite school, reports ABC News.

Gordon ErnstAfter fighting the charges — including conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery — for more than two years, his decision to plead guilty comes as the first trial of the infamous college admissions bribery scandal is underway. As part of the plea deal, Ernst has promised to ask for no less than a year in prison, and prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than four years, according to ABC.

Ernst was arrested in March 2019, along with more than four dozen others involved in what's been called "Operation Varsity Blues," a scheme that used rigged test scores and fake athletic credentials to get students admitted. As part of the scheme, Ernst took bribes from admissions consultant Rick Singer in exchange for designating unqualified students as tennis recruits.