Elisabeth Kimmel, Mail and Wire Fraud, Massachusetts 2021

California Media Exec Pleads Guilty in College Admissions Scandal

BOSTON – Elisabeth Kimmel, 57, of La Jolla, California, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with her involvement in the college admissions case.

Kimmel, the former chief executive of a California-based media company, agreed to pay $275,000 to facilitate her daughter’s admission to Georgetown University by allegedly having Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst allocate a tennis admission slot to her daughter, even though she was not a competitive tennis player and was not actually being recruited to play on the Georgetown tennis team. She further agreed to pay $250,000 to facilitate her son’s admission to the University of Southern California as a pole vault recruit, even though he was not a pole vaulter.

Kimmel is the 32nd parent to plead guilty in the case. William “Rick” Singer, who previously pleaded guilty, is pending sentencing. Ernst has pleaded not guilty and is presumed innocent.

Under the terms of Kimmel’s plea agreement, the parties have agreed to a sentence of six weeks in prison and two years of supervised release, with the first year spent in home confinement. She will also be required to pay a $250,000 fine and perform 500 hours of community service.

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Kimmel’s sentencing is scheduled for December 9, 2021. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin D. O’Connell, Leslie A. Wright, Kristen A. Kearney, Ian J. Stearns, and Stephen E. Frank of Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell’s Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations, and the remaining defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/parent-college-admissions-case-pleads-guilty-2