Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Former Georgetown Coach Gordie Ernst
The U.S. Justice Department case against Rhode Island sports legend Gordie Ernst — once the head tennis coach at Georgetown University— appeared to get a boost on Tuesday when a parent involved in the college admission scheme agreed to a plea and admitted to paying Ernst $50,000 to “facilitate his child’s acceptance to Georgetown University.”
In March of 2019, a federal corruption case named then-URI Tennis Coach Ernst 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.
Hollywood stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have both pled to charges.
Parent’s Guilty Plea
On Tuesday, Robert Repella, a wealthy parent. pled guilty one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
According to the terms of Repella’s plea agreement, the government recommended a sentence of 10 months in prison, one year of supervised release, a fine of $40,000, and restitution. Repella is the 26th parent to plead guilty in this case.
Repella, who the Justice Department says was not involved in the conspiracy with William “Rick” Singer — the college counselor who created the scheme — agreed to pay Ernst more than $50,000 directly, in exchange for purporting to recruit his daughter to the Georgetown tennis team. Repella has also agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.
Ernst is one of the greatest high school sports legends in Rhode Island’s history. Now, he is facing multiple federal charges as part of the college admission case.
According to government documents, Ernst faces “conspiracy to commit racketeering; conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud; conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery; federal programs bribery; wire fraud and honest services wire fraud – aiding and abetting; mail fraud and honest services mail fraud – aiding and abetting; money laundering – aiding and abetting.”
At Georgetown, Ernst was both the men’s and women’s coach and gave lessons to President Barack Obama’s family.
The Justice Department’s case against Ernst is scheduled for a status hearing on July 5, 2020.
Ernst Charges and Stories RI Legacy
The story of Ernst started on the tennis courts and in the ice rinks in Cranston and continues in federal courtrooms in Boston.
“Defendant GORDON ERNST (“ERNST”) was a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland and Falmouth, Massachusetts. Until January 2018, ERNST was employed as the head coach of men’s and women’s tennis at Georgetown University.
According to court documents, “Between 2012 and 2018, Singer paid ERNST bribes, falsely labeled as ‘consulting’ fees, totaling more than $2.7 million. Singer typically made the payments from one of the KWF charitable accounts and sent them to ERNST via U.S. Mail, including in at least one instance to ERNST’s residence in Falmouth, Massachusetts. In exchange for the bribes, ERNST designated at least 12 applicants as recruits for the Georgetown tennis team, including some who did not play tennis competitively, thereby facilitating their admission to Georgetown.”
In October, a federal grand jury in Massachusetts returned a superseding indictment bringing additional charges against Ernst and 6 other university athletic officials who had been previously charged in the college admissions case.
Ernst was inducted into the New England Tennis Hall of Fame in 2015, and he also is a member of the Rhode Island Interscholastic Hall of Fame (2003) and the Cranston, R.I. Athletic Hall of Fame (2000). In 1985, he was drafted in the 10th round of the NHL Draft by the Minnesota North Stars. During his high school hockey career, he was part of two different teams to defeat the powerful, No. 1 nationally-ranked Mt. Saint Charles hockey program. Ernst was part of the Bishop Hendricken team that beat the Mounties his freshman year, and then again helped Cranston East beat Mount as a senior.
As a high school player, Ernst was the only player in Rhode Island history to win state titles in both singles and doubles in four consecutive years. In doing so, he did not lose a set along the way. From 1978-85, he was ranked No. 1 in New England USTA Junior Tennis five times and was ranked in the Top 25 nationally twice.
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