Gordie Ernst Hit With Additional Charges by Boston U.S. Attorney

Gordie Ernst Hit With Additional Charges by Boston U.S. Attorney

A federal grand jury in Massachusetts returned a superseding indictment bringing additional charges against RI athletic star Gordie Ernst and 6 other university athletic officials who had been previously charged in the college admissions case.  

Ernest, the former University of Rhode Island tennis coach, has been charged with conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, and honest services mail and wire fraud, in connection with the previous charges of paying or accepting bribes to admit student applicants, Boston U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling announced on Tuesday.

See Ernst's Indictment Below

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Ernst is also charged with substantive counts of federal programs bribery and money laundering.

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Along with Ernst, Donna Heinel, Jorge Salcedo, Mikaela Sanford, Jovan Vavic, Niki Williams and William Ferguson face the same charges of mail and wire fraud, and honest service mail and wire fraud.

Arraignment dates have not yet been scheduled. 

Latest on Ernst

As GoLocalProv reported back in March, Ernst was put on administrative leave by URI after he and nearly 50 other people, including Hollywood stars, wealthy business leaders and coaches at top American universities, with paying or accepting bribes to admit student applicants.

At the time, URI issued the following statement: 

"The University of Rhode Island today was made aware of an indictment of head women’s tennis coach Gordon Ernst related to incidents that allegedly took place while he was head coach at Georgetown University.  As a result, the University has placed Ernst on administrative leave while it continues to review the matter. Ernst was hired by URI in August 2018 as head coach. He has not been involved in the recruitment of any current players nor in the signing of any new recruits."

Ernst had previously been the tennis coach at Georgetown University where it is believed the violations occurred. He was both the men's and women's coach and gave lessons to President Barack Obama's family.

Potential Penalties 

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, the charge of racketeering conspiracy provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater and restitution.

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

The charge of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

The charge of mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater and restitution.

The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and federal programs bribery provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater and restitution.

Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 

See the Indictment Below