Ex-Harvard Fencing Coach Accused Of Admissions Bribery Scheme

CAMBRIDGE, MA — A former fencing coach at Harvard College was arrested Monday and accused of conspiring to secure the admission of two students in exchange for $1.5 million in bribes.

Peter Brand, 67, of Cambridge, and Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, of Maryland, were charged with conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Both were expected to appear in court Monday. Zhao is the father of the students.

"This case is part of our long-standing effort to expose and deter corruption in college admissions," said United States Attorney Andrew Lelling in a statement. "Millions of teenagers strive for college admission every year. We will do our part to make that playing field as level as we possibly can."

Authorities said Brand, the former head coach of men’s and women’s fencing at Harvard, conspired with Zhao, the chief executive of a telecommunications company, to get Zhao’s sons into Harvard by recruiting them to join the men’s fencing team in exchange for money.

Brand was the head fencing coach from 1999 to 2019, according to his LinkedIn account.

“Jack doesn’t need to take me anywhere and his boys don’t have to be great fencers," Brand told a co-conspirator in 2012, according to the prosecutors. "All I need is a good incentive to recruit them[.] You can tell him that[.]"

In 2013, prosecutors say Zhao made a "donation" of $1 million to a fencing charity operated by a co-conspirator.

Zhao’s older son was admitted to Harvard as a fencing recruit in December that year and matriculated in the fall of 2014. Shortly thereafter, the charity passed $100,000 on to the Peter Brand Foundation, a charity established by Brand and his spouse. Zhao then began making payments to, or for the benefit of, Brand, according to prosecutors.

Zhao made $1.5 million in payments to Brand or for the coach's personal benefit as Brand recruited Zhao’s younger son to the Harvard fencing team, according to court documents.

Zhao paid for Brand’s car, made college tuition payments for Brand’s son, paid the mortgage on Brand’s Needham home, and later bought the home for well above its market value, allowing Brand to purchase a more expensive home in Cambridge that Zhao paid to renovate, according to prosecutors.

Zhao’s younger son matriculated to Harvard in 2017. The complaint accuses Brand of not disclosing the payments to Harvard when recruiting Zhao’s sons.

"Today’s arrests show how Peter Brand’s and Jie Zhao’s plan to circumvent the college admissions process ended up backfiring on both of them," Joseph Bonavolonta, of the Boston FBI division, said in a statement. "The FBI will continue to work hard to identify others like them who are cheating the millions of kids laser-focused on getting into schools the right way."

The two face sentences of up to five years in prison and $250,000 fine.

The case comes on the heels of a college admissions scandal last year involving more than two dozen parents, including celebrities, conspiring to bribe their children's way into elite colleges.