A wealthy businessman was charged with bribery over alleged payments of $1.5 million to get his sons into Harvard

https://news.yahoo.com/wealthy-businessman-charged-bribery-over-063042643.html

Sarah Al-Arshani
Tue, November 17, 2020, 1:30 AM EST

A wealthy Maryland businessman and the former Harvard fencing coach were arrested and charged with bribery on Monday for giving and accepting $1.5 million to get the businessman two sons accepted into the prestigious university, according to the US Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts.

According to federal prosecutors, in the span of five years, Jie "Jack" Zhao, the CEO of telecom company iTalk Global Communications, donated $1 million to a fencing charity "operated by a co-conspirator."

His oldest son was accepted into the university in December 2013 as a fencing recruit.

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Zhao's younger son matriculated to Harvard in 2017, also as a fencing recruit. In the time since his initial donation, Zhao also paid for Brand's car, made college tuition payments for Brand's son, paid the mortgage on Brand's home in the suburb of Boston, and would later buy it above its market value. That allowed Brand to buy a more expensive home in Cambridge, which Zhao also paid to renovate, the US Attorney's Office alleges.

Brand was fired in 2019, following a Boston Globe investigation into the sale of his home. The Globe found that Zhao bought Brand's home which was worth $549,300, for close to $1 million and then sold it more than a year later for a loss of more than $300,000.

The former fencing coach never disclosed to the university that he accepted money prior to recruiting Zhao's two sons, federal prosecutors allege.