BOSTON (Reuters). Two rich fathers, who faced trial for corruption in US college admissions scandal, were convicted of trying to corruptly buy their kids into elite schools as phony recruits.

An indictment was filed by a federal jury in Boston against Gamal Aziz, a former executive casino and John Wilson, the founder of private equity firm. The charges stemmed from their payments of several hundred thousand dollars for admissions slots to their children.

They were among the 57 individuals charged in a conspiracy by wealthy parents and William “Rick” Singer, a California college admissions specialist, to fraudulently place their children’s college places.

Singer was convicted in 2019 of facilitating cheating in college entrance exams, and funneling money to corrupt athletics officials and coaches to help their kids become fake athletes.

Aziz as well Wilson will likely appeal. Singer, according to Singer’s lawyer, kept Wilson and Aziz in the dark about its mechanics, leading them to believe that their money was going towards university donations.

After a trial lasting four weeks, the verdict was based in part on secret recordings that investigators obtained from Singer’s parents. Singer became the main cooperating witness during the Operation Varsity Blues investigation. Singer was not called by the prosecution to testify. Instead, they relied on recordings of his calls with his parents.

This probe led to the arrest of executives and famous people, such as Felicity Hufman and Lori Loughlin. One parent was pardoned by former President Donald Trump.

Gamal Abdelaziz is also known as Aziz and is a Wynn Resorts Ltd (NASDAQ:) Ltd former executive. Wilson established Hyannis Port Capital.

Prosecutors allege that Aziz (62) agreed to pay $300,000. to ensure his daughter’s basketball recruitment at the University of Southern California (USC).

Prosecutors claimed that Wilson (64) paid $220,000 in 2014 to falsely identify his son as a USC waterpolo recruit.

He later claimed that he paid $1 million more to secure fraudulent spots at Harvard and Stanford universities for his daughters. Singer discussed the arrangement with Wilson via recorded phone calls, while cooperating with investigators.

In a call prosecutors played for the jury, Singer told Wilson that it “doesn’t matter” what sport they were paired with and that he would “make them a sailor or something.”

Wilson responded with a laugh, “Is there any two for one special?” If you got twins?”

Prosecutors in both cases stated that Singer, along with others who worked together with him, created athletic profiles for the admissions process. These profiles included fake information about Singer’s children.

Laura Janke, an ex-USC soccer coach, has admitted to accepting bribes from Singer. He paid her later after she left school to set up a profile for Aziz’s daughter, which falsified her height and team position, as well as other accolades.