Former casino executive Gamal Aziz, who worked for Caesars Entertainment, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts during his career, was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $250,000 for bribery in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.
Aziz was president and executive director of Wynn Macau from 2014 to 2016 and spearheaded the development and opening of Wynn Palace in the city’s Cotai district. The five-star hotel and resort opened in August 2016.
Aziz was convicted of paying $300,000 to get his daughter into an exclusive university. His sentence by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston is the longest anyone has received in the scandal to date. Fifty-seven people have been charged in the investigation, in which parents conspired with college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to pay bribes to secure prestigious college admissions for their children.
Gorton said Aziz showed a “lack of integrity, morality and common sense” and “stole an admission spot at a good college from a deserving student who did not have all your advantages.”
Aziz intends to appeal the decision.
