Tycoon Jie ‘Jack’ Zhao and Harvard coach Peter Brand charged in US$1.5 million bribery scheme
- The businessman allegedly bought Brand’s home for nearly double its assessed value in exchange for help getting his sons into the Ivy League university
- Prosecutors say Zhao also paid for the coach’s car and made college tuition payments on behalf of Brand’s son
A Chinese-born US tech tycoon and Harvard’s former fencing coach were arrested on Monday on accusations that the coach accepted US$1.5 million in bribes in exchange for helping the businessman get his two sons into the Ivy League school as recruited fencers.
Peter Brand, 67, who was fired by Harvard last year, and Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, a naturalised US citizen based in Potomac, Maryland, face a charge of conspiracy to commit federal programmes bribery.
Their arrest comes more than a year after a newspaper reported that Brand sold his home for nearly double its assessed value to Zhao. Prosecutors say Zhao also paid for Brand’s car and made college tuition payments on behalf of Brand’s son.
“Today’s arrests show how Peter Brand’s and Jie Zhao’s plan to circumvent the college admissions process ended up backfiring on both of them. Now they are accused of exchanging more than US$1.5 million in bribes for their own personal benefit,” Joseph Bonavolonta, head of the FBI Boston Division, said in an emailed statement.
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‘Hard work’ (and US$6.5 million) gets you into Stanford
Emails seeking comment were sent to lawyers for the two men.
