Maryland technology tycoon Ji "Jack" Zhao and former Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand were arrested Monday following accusations Brand received $1.5 million in bribes from Zhao for the business owner's children to get into the Ivy League school.
Attorney William Weinreb, a lawyer for Zhao, said the business owner's children were "academic stars" when they were in high school and were admitted to Harvard "on their own merit."
Brand's lawyer, attorney Douglas Brooks, said the former coach, who was fired by Harvard last year, "looks forward to the truth coming out in court."
Harvard removed Brand in July 2019 for violating the university's conflict-of-interest policy. Prosecutors said Brand experienced financial troubles from 2012.
The Boston Globe first reported Brand allegedly sold his home to Zhao for double the property's assessed value.
In 2016, Brand's house was reportedly assessed at $549,300. Zhao reportedly purchased the home from Brand that year for almost $1 million but then sold the house at a loss one-and-a-half years after the purchase.
Brand reportedly purchased a Massachusetts home that Zhao also helped to renovate.
Other documents presented by Boston prosecutors said Zhao paid for a car for Brand, helped pay the mortgage of the fencing coach's home and even paid for the college tuition of Brand's son.
In a March 2019 investigation, prosecutors charged 57 people involved in cheating schemes and bribery that saw wealthy parents get their children admitted to universities.
Last week, the former president of a private Texas tennis club, Martin Fox, was sentenced to three months in prison and was ordered to pay a $95,000 fine for conspiring to get students admitted to U.S. colleges.
Fox pleaded guilty in November for conspiring with university coaches, teaching assistants, an exam proctor and scheme mastermind William "Rick" Singer in processing fake athletic recruitments and helping students cheat in entrance exams.
The scheme also saw "Full House" actor Lori Loughlin getting a two-month sentence after paying $500,000 to Singer and Key Worldwide Foundation for her two daughters' University of Southern California crew team admission.
