Peter Brand, Harvard fencing coach, accused of taking bribes to get businessman’s sons into school

The former fencing coach at Harvard University was charged Monday with accepting more than $1.5 million in bribes from a Maryland businessman in exchange for getting the businessman’s two sons into the Ivy League school as fencing recruits.

Peter Brand, 67, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Jie “Jack” Zhao, 61, of Potomac, Maryland, both face charges of conspiracy to commit federal-programs bribery.

“The case is part of our long-standing effort to expose and deter corruption in college admissions,” said Andrew Lelling, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts. “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.”

The case is separate from the Varsity Blues investigation, which ensnared actress Lori Loughlin, her husband and others in a scheme to bribe officials so their children could attend prestigious universities. But both cases are part of a longstanding effort to expose corruption in college admissions.

According to court documents, Mr. Brand, through a co-conspirator, told Mr. Zhao that “his boys don’t have to be great fencers,” and all he needed to recruit them was “a good incentive.”

In February 2013, Mr. Zhao donated $1 million to a fencing charity operated by a co-conspirator, according to court documents. A few months later, his oldest son was accepted to Harvard and enrolled in fall 2014.

Sometime later, the charity then passed $100,000 from that donation to the Peter Brand Foundation, a charity established by Mr. Brand and his spouse, court records revealed.

Mr. Zhao then began making payments to or for the benefit of Mr. Brand, prosecutors said.

All told, Mr. Zhao made more than $1.5 million in payments to Mr. Brand for his personal benefit, according to documents. Mr. Zhao also, according to the government, paid for Mr. Brand’s car and mortgage, and purchased a residence in a tony Cambridge neighborhood for Mr. Brand. Court documents say that Mr. Zhao both paid to renovate the home and paid well above its market value.

Mr. Zhao also made the college tuition payments for Mr. Brand’s own son, prosecutors said.

While the payments were being made to Mr. Brand, Mr. Zhao’s youngest son was recruited to the Harvard fencing team and enrolled in 2017, according to court documents.