Indicted URI Tennis Coach Petitions For Assets To Be Unfrozen

BOSTON — The indicted former University of Rhode Island women's tennis coach is petitioning a federal judge to have his assets unfrozen. Gordon Ernst was named in Operation Varsity Blues, a massive college cheating scandal that involved several celebrities including Full House actress Lori Loughlin.

The lawyers of Gordon Ernst are scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston on April 17 to petition to release funds from Ernst's frozen assets to help pay for more than $250,000 legal fees, The Boston Globe reported Tuesday.

Ernst served as the women's tennis coach for the University of Rhode island from August 2018 until March, when he resigned following his indictment. The charges stem from his time as a coach at Georgetown University, when he reportedly accepted more than $2.7 million in bribes in exchange for fraudulently recruiting student to the women's tennis team.

On Tuesday, 16 people including Loughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, appeared in federal court to be officially charged. The group is part of a second indictment for conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to use bribery to cheat on college entrance exams to get their children into elite colleges, according to United States Attorney Andrew Lelling's office.

The conspiracy, dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" by law enforcement, involved conspiring with William "Rick" Singer, 58, of Newport Beach, California to bribe SAT and ACT exam administrators to allow a test taker to secretly take college entrance exams in place of students. Another method involved bribing officials to correct the students' answers after they had taken the exam or bribing university athletic coaches and administrators to facilitate the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits.

The second superseding indictment also charges the parents with conspiring to launder the bribes and other payments in furtherance of the fraud by funneling them through Singer's purported charity and his for-profit corporation, as well as by transferring money into the United States, from outside the United States, for the purpose of promoting the fraud scheme.
The scam has engulfed wealthy, prominent parents and athletic coaches at elite universities across the country, including Yale and Georgetown. Actress Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives" fame was among those charged. She and 13 others agreed to plead guilty yesterday in Boston.

The following defendants were charged in the second superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering:

1. Gamal Abdelaziz, 62, aka "Gamal Aziz," of Las Vegas, Nev.;
2. Diane Blake, 55, of Ross, Calif.;
3. Todd Blake, 53, of Ross, Calif.;
4. I-Hsin "Joey" Chen, 64, of Newport Beach, Calif.;
5. Mossimo Giannulli, 55, of Los Angeles, Calif.;
6. Elizabeth Henriquez, 56, of Atherton, Calif.;
7. Manuel Henriquez, 56, of Atherton, Calif.;
8. Douglas Hodge, 61, of Laguna Beach, Calif.;
9. Michelle Janavs, 48, of Newport Coast, Calif.;
10. Elisabeth Kimmel, 54, of Las Vegas, Nev.;
11. Lori Loughlin, 54, of Los Angeles, Calif.;
12. William McGlashan, Jr., 55, of Mill Valley, Calif.;
13. Marci Palatella, 63, of Hillsborough, Calif.;
14. John Wilson, 59, of Lynnfield, Mass.;
15. Homayoun Zadeh, 57, of Calabasas, Calif.; and
16. Robert Zangrillo, 52, of Miami, Fla.

Three parents—David Sidoo, 59, of Vancouver, Canada; Gregory Colburn, 61, of Palo Alto, Calif.; and Amy Colburn, 59, of Palo Alto, Calif.—were previously indicted in connection with the scheme.
An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Case information, including the status of each defendant, charging documents and plea agreements are available here.

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud provides for a maximum sentence of 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. The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering.

READ MORE:

• Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman, 13 Others To Plead Guilty In College Admissions Scam
• URI Tennis Coach Named In College Cheating Scandal
• URI: Indicted Tennis Coach Passed Background Check
• Indicted University of Rhode Island Tennis Coach Resigns

Jenna Fisher contributed to this story.