Bill McGlashan
- New court filings show how Hollywood private-equity mogul Bill McGlashan is fighting charges against him in the college admissions scandal, seeking documents from prosecutors and saying they have been uncooperative with his attorneys.
- On Wednesday, McGlashan's lawyers asked a Massachusetts judge to order prosecutors to hand over any evidence they may have in their possession that supports his defense.
- "For months, McGlashan unsuccessfully tried to persuade the Government of its duty to produce [evidence] supporting his defenses," said the filing co-written by McGlashan's lawyers at the law firms of Hueston Hennigan and Sidley Austin.
- "The Government stonewalled, produced nothing - not even admitting whether or not such material existed - before finally admitting at a meet and confer in October 2019 that it had still not reviewed the full set of materials in its possession," the filing said.
- McGlashan, a onetime top executive of TPG Capital and co-founder of production company STX Entertainment, was among 33 wealthy parents charged by federal prosecutors this March in a sweeping indictment that accused them of bribing college coaches and entrance exam officials to get their children admitted to high-status universities.
Hollywood private-equity mogul Bill McGlashan is not going down without a fight.
McGlashan, a onetime top executive of TPG Capital and co-founder of production company STX Entertainment, was among 33 wealthy parents charged by federal prosecutors this March in a sweeping indictment that accused them of bribing college coaches and entrance exam officials to get their children admitted to high-status universities.
In the court papers filed Wednesday morning, McGlashan's lawyers asked a Massachussetts federal judge to order prosecutors to hand over additional evidence they may have in their possession, including full reports of interviews conducted in their case.
The 32-page "motion to compel" filing claimed prosecutors were uncooperative with multiple requests for documents related to the case this fall, including anything that might show McGlashan's ignorance in the scandal.
"For months, McGlashan unsuccessfully tried to persuade the Government of its duty to produce [evidence] supporting his defenses," said the filing cowritten by McGlashan's lawyers at the law firms of Hueston Hennigan and Sidley Austin.
"The Government stonewalled, produced nothing - not even admitting whether or not such material existed - before finally admitting at a meet and confer in October 2019 that it had still not reviewed the full set of materials in its possession."
Almost immediately after the charges were filed in March, TPG Capital, the private equity firm where McGlashan was an executive, said it fired him and would let investors pull money from the fund that he ran, which focused on companies trying to tackle social and environmental issues. At the time, in an email to board members, McGlashan said he resigned.
The position McGlashan occupied, as CEO of the Rise Fund within TPG, was high-powered, and his work around the time of his exit had entailed trying to raise as much as $3 billion for the fund. He initially cofounded the fund with Bono and Jeffrey Skoll.
The admissions scandal has engulfed sevaral prominent names in finance
The federal charges have produced guilty pleas from the nation's wealthy, including Manuel Henriquez, founder and chief executive officer of venture capital firm Hercules Capital; Michelle Janavs, a former executive of the company that makes Hot Pockets; and Douglas Hodge, the former CEO of investment management firm Pimco.
Hodges, for instance, agreed to plead guilty in October for paying more than $500,000 in bribes to get two of his kids into the University of Southern California as fake athletic recruits.
McGlashan, on the other hand, has been a holdout, fighting the government's case against him, saying he never paid for his son to be granted college admission via a so-called "side door" as prosecutors allege.
Instead, he says that he only paid for legal college coaching services by consultant William "Rick" Singer - the man who is now considered the mastermind behind the scandal.
McGlashan's lawyers are building a case that exactly how much their client knew about what Singer was up to should factor into any charges against him.
That's why they are seeking any documents that could show McGlashan did not understand the scheme, and that he was instead a victim of "entrapment" by Singer, who, in cooperating with the FBI, recorded a phone conversation with McGlashan discussing a way for his son to get admitted to USC through a side door.
"McGlashan is entitled to information regarding when Singer might have first had motive to ensare as many parents as possible into his scheme and develop evidence for the Government," said McGlashan's lawyers in the Wednesday filings.
In bringing their charges against McGlashan, prosecutors alleged that he donated $50,000 to a nonprofit with the understanding that Singer would arrange for someone to administer and then correct his son's ACT at West Hollywood, California, testing center that Singer "controlled," according to the initial indictment.
His 18-year-old son, who, according to the indictment, did not know about the scheme, submitted his ACT score of 34 to Northeastern University in October. His son subsequently withdrew his application.
The prosecutors also alleged, pointing to a wiretapped phone call between Singer and McGlashan, that the pair discussed creating a fake football profile for his son, with Singer telling McGlashan he would need pictures of his son "playing multiple sports, or something where you can kind of see his face a little bit in action."
In the recent filing, McGlashan said that the profile was never sent to McGlashan for his review or approval, nor was the profile ever used as part of any application or submission on behalf of his son. "This is because McGlashan - before reaching any final agreement - decided not to proceed with Singer's side door scheme and instead to pursue another path."
Power lawyers
In defending himself, McGlashan has enlisted some of the most expensive power lawyers in the country.
One lawyer who is referred to in the filing as sending requests to prosecutors for documents is Los Angeles trial attorney John Hueston. Hueston is a former federal prosecutor who brought fraud charges against Enron and recently represented Elon Musk in a legal tussle with the SEC over his tweeting.
McGlashan's other lawyer on the docket is Jack Pirozzolo, another former federal prosecutor who successfully brought charges against the girlfriend of organized crime boss James "Whitey" Bulger for helping him skirt law enforcement.
The prosecutors involved in the McGlashan's case are Eric Rosen and Kristen Kearney, according to the filing. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.