Colluding with fencing coaches to take the shortcut of "specialty", wealthy Chinese businessmen were exploded to help their sons enter Harvard

Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Chen Xiang Liu Haoran] In March last year, a number of famous universities in the United States broke out an admission fraud scandal, which caused anger in all walks of life, and after the country's judicial department prosecuted and punished a large number of people involved in the case, the scandal continued to occur: On the 16th of this month, a rich Chinese telecommunications businessman in Maryland and a former fencing coach at Harvard University were arrested by the US authorities: After investigation, the former sent his children to Harvard, and successively sent up to 1.5 million US dollars in various forms to the latter, and the bribery and bribery were conclusively proven. The case sparked a chorus of media condemnation, with the New York Times and others characterizing the case as the latest example of the "collapse of the admissions system in the United States."

According to CNN reported on the 17th, the Massachusetts Prosecutor's Office confirmed that the US law enforcement department arrested Zhao Jie, a wealthy Chinese businessman, and Pete Brand, a former fencing coach at Harvard University, on the 16th, who were charged with accepting bribes and faced a 5-year prison sentence and a fine of $250,000 if convicted. The two suspects appeared in court separately on the 16th, but both denied that they were negligent. Zhao Jie's lawyer said that his client's two children had excellent grades in high school and had "international competitiveness" in their athletic level, which was entirely based on their ability at Harvard. For this case, Zhao Jie not only denied all accusations, but also said that he would do his best to defend.

CNN said Zhao Jie, 61, the CEO of iTalk International Communications, a Maryland telecommunications service provider, contacted Brand (now 67) years ago to "dredge" in order to send his children to Harvard. After that, his two children were included in the fencing team coached by Brand, and entered Harvard as special students in 2014 and 2017, respectively. Among them, the eldest son has graduated in 2018.

According to reports, although the sports coaches of American universities do not have the right to make decisions on admissions matters, they can recommend outstanding sports students to the admissions department and have considerable right to speak. On the issue of recruiting Zhao Jie's son into the fencing team, Brand clearly abused his power. In 2012, he said to an accomplice: "You go and bring Zhao Jie a message, just say that his son does not have to be a fencing master." But to recruit them in, I always have to figure something out. He also said, "As long as the money is in place, Zhao's son is my first choice for recruitment." ”

According to the New York Post, Brand's daily profligacy, often reprimanded by his wife, and his motivation to "make money" is very obvious. The contents of the emails obtained by the court show that Brand's wife reminded him more than once to save — "We can't afford to pay the bills anymore," "You really can't swipe your card anymore, I'll cut your card again," and "Don't buy anything anymore!" etc. After Brand openly demanded bribes, Zhao Jie continued to deliver financial benefits to him in various forms: paying tuition for his children, helping him repay his housing loans, buying him a car, and renovating his new home, totaling about $1.5 million.

As of last year, Zhao Jie's interaction with Brand sparked suspicion in the American media, and the Boston Globe conducted an in-depth investigation and dug up an extremely suspicious home sale and purchase transaction: Zhao Jie bought a house from Brand at a price nearly double the market price in 2016, and it did not take long for Zhao Jie's young son to be admitted to Harvard University. Court documents show that the house was just a "dilapidated house from the 1960s" and that Zhao Jie had never lived in since it was purchased, claiming the deal was for "investment." Mr. Zhao actually paid nearly $990,000 for the home, which was valued at about $550,000; it was sold a year and a half later for $665,000, an "investment" that lost a total of $324,000. In response, Harvard University launched an independent investigation, found that there was indeed a conflict of interest in it, and fired Brand in July 2019. "1.5 million to buy Harvard" is the most significant college admission fraud case after the 2019 college bribery incident in the United States. After the scandal came to light in March last year, U.S. authorities conducted a massive investigation to purge admissions corruption, and at least 53 people involved in the case were prosecuted, including 34 parents who paid bribes, and Felicity Hoffman, a well-known American actress and star of the popular drama "Desperate Housewives," was also one of the perpetrators. The sentences of those involved ranged from a few weeks to several months. CNN said that these powerful people help their children "go through the back door" in a variety of ways: some of them buy the examiners to arrange "gunmen" to improve their children's "college entrance examination" (SAT/ACT) scores; others, like Zhao Jie, collude with sports coaches of famous schools to take shortcuts of "special students". Others send bribes to relevant personnel in the name of donations through charitable foundations and other channels.