Former Penn men’s basketball coach Jerome Allen testified in a federal criminal trial last week that he accepted $300,000 in bribes from a Florida businessman to get the man’s son into the Ivy League school, using a basketball priority slot to get him through admissions. Allen, now an assistant coach with the NBA Boston Celtics, pleaded guilty last fall to accepting a $18,000 from the man in 2014.
The $300,000 total wasn’t disclosed until Allen testified during the $450 million Medicare and Medicaid fraud case involving Phillip Esformes, a Miami nursing home business giant. .
Allen’s blockbuster testimony came at the same time as the Feds charged 50 wealthy parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and multiple CEOs, with fraud and conspiracy for paying bribes to get their children into some of the nation’s top colleges like Stanford, UCLA, Wake Forest. The parents allegedly funneled the money to William Rick Singer from Key Worldwide Foundation, who in turn paid people to take tests for the children, bribed test administrators and bribed college coaches and other administrators to identify the children as college athletes.
Allen testified that former Penn assistant Ira Bowman, who is currently on Auburn’s coaching staff, had knowledge of the scheme and became involved after Allen was forced to resign as the Quakers’ coach in March of 2015. Allen told the jury he set up a separate bank account for Esformes to wire him money and gave Bowman a debit card to access the funds.
Allen testified he trained Esformes’ son Morris in basketball during several trips to Miami, for which Esformes paid for Allen to stay at beachfront hotels, ride in limos and attend Miami Heat games. After the workouts, Esformes handed Allen plastic bags filled with $10,000 in cash. Allen told the jury the son’s dream was to attend Penn and play basketball in college.
Allen admitted he didn’t believe Morris—who was just 5-8 and athletic enough to play for the Quakers. Still, In the fall of 2014, Allen still put Morris Esformes on a list of priority recruits and slotted him for one of the two spots for admission at the world-famous Wharton School of Business. Morris Esformes, now a senior at Penn, never played for the Quakers.
Allen faces 10 years in prison, although he is likely to receive a lighter sentence in exchange for his cooperation. He must repay the $18,000 in bribes and also pay a $200,000 fine. Bowman, a former Penn player, was hired by Auburn as an assistant in July.
