Disclaimer: This Inside South Florida segment is sponsored by Varsity Blues, The Scandal Within the Scandal. All opinions and views are of the advertiser and does not reflect the same of WSFL-TV.
The college admissions scandal known as Operation Varsity Blues made national headlines with the arrest and conviction of celebrities like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. But according to businessman and Harvard graduate John Wilson, there’s much more to the story—especially when it comes to his own case.
Now, Wilson is speaking out in his new book Varsity Blues: The Scandal Within the Scandal, where he claims he was falsely accused and wrongfully convicted as part of a larger strategy by federal prosecutors to boost their profiles.
“I grew up in the projects of Hartford, Connecticut,” Wilson told Inside South Florida. “Education transformed my life and enabled me to escape the projects and to build a successful business career. But none of that mattered when it came to fighting the federal government.”
Wilson says that of the 3,000 families involved with the scheme’s mastermind, Rick Singer, only a small percentage were involved in criminal activity. Yet he became a central figure in the Boston-based prosecution—he believes simply because of geography. “Only one account was based in Massachusetts: mine,” he said. “We simply became collateral damage.”
His book outlines what he describes as federal misconduct, including the piling on of charges and a trial process that blocked nearly all evidence in his defense—such as his daughter’s perfect ACT score and his son’s record-setting swimming career. A federal appeals court eventually overturned Wilson’s core convictions.
All proceeds from the book will go to charity, Wilson says, in the hopes that sharing his experience might prevent similar abuses of power in the future.
Varsity Blues: The Scandal Within the Scandal is available now on Amazon and major booksellers. Learn more atscandalwithinthescandal.com.
