Jerome Allen’s experience shows greed isn’t necessarily good.
The Boston Celtics assistant coach admitted to taking around $300,000 in bribes from a Florida businessman in exchange for helping his son gain admittance into the University of Pennsylvania, according to USA TODAY’s Scott Gleeson. Allen revealed his wrongdoing last year while testifying in a wide-ranging Medicare and Medicaid fraud investigation.
Allen, who was head coach of Penn’s men’s basketball team between 2009 and 2015, claims he received bags containing $10,000 before healthcare executive Philip Esformes made subsequent wire transfers to his account. Penn admitted Morris Esformes, Phillip’s son, filling a priority basketball slot.
The Celtics hired Allen to serve under head coach Brad Stevens in 2015. However, Allen made former Penn assistant (and current Auburn assistant) Ira Bowman aware of the bribery scheme and insisted he keep Esformes on the team after his departure for Boston. Esformes eventually quit the Penn basketball team, but Allen continued to influence his experience at Penn from afar.
“I accepted the money to help Morris Esformes get into the school,” Allen testified, per Law360.com. “I got his son into Penn. I got his son into Wharton (business school). None of that would have happened without me.”
Allen pleaded guilty to bribery charges in October and could face prison time.
His testimony isn’t related to the wide-ranging college-admissions cheating scandal the U.S. Justice Department announced Tuesday.
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