Netflix is being sued by a parent in the college admissions scandal documentary

The dad has denied he paid $1.7million to help get his three children into university


A dad who was featured in the documentary about the college admissions scandal has sued Netflix for defamation.

The Netflix film, called Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, looks at the case that has resulted in more than 50 people being charged for crimes such as bribery, money laundering, and document fabrication to unfairly get students admitted to elite colleges in America. Some of these include famous faces, who were desperate to get their children into the best institutions so lied to and bribed those who could make that happen. The lies included pretending their children were good at sports and cheating on entrance exams.

The whole scheme was led by William “Rick” Singer, a college-prep professional, who pleaded guilty to the charges made against him. Parents are said to have paid Singer around $25 million to bribe coaches and university administrators. These bribes were covered as “donations” to his foundation.

John B Wilson, who was mentioned in the documentary as a parent involved, has denied all claims against him and has said his portrayal is the “ultimate destruction” of his reputation. Wilson founded equity firm Hyannis Port Capital, and is accused of paying more than $1.7million to help get his three children into Harvard, Stanford and the University of Southern California.

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John B Wilson arriving in court with his wife over the scandal, photo by Charles Krupa/AP/Shutterstock

Family attorney Howard Cooper said: “They [the Wilson family] have been forced to endure the ultimate destruction of their reputations in the eyes of more than 200 million global Netflix subscribers.”

It is also alleged that Wilson warned Netflix, in writing, before the documentary was released, and provided “publicly available and fully exculpatory facts,” insisting he and his family shouldn’t “simply be grouped into a narrative” with those who have pleaded guilty to the charges against them. Wilson says he supplied Netflix with the results of a polygraph test to prove his innocence.

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A recreation of John B Wilson’s arrest was shown in the doc, via Netflix

His attorney added that when John Wilson met Rick Singer he believed he was a “highly reputable college admissions counsellor” and payments made to him were “legitimate donations” to “assist” with getting his children into universities. He also argues that his children did actually have top exam results and sporting talents.

Netflix has not yet commented.

Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, quizzes, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook. 

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