Ex-USC water polo coach Jovan Vavic convicted in college admissions bribery case

BOSTON — A decorated former water polo coach at USC was found guilty Friday in the sprawling college admissions bribery scandal.

A federal jury in Boston convicted Jovan Vavic of fraud and bribery. He declined to comment after the hearing and left court with his family.

Vavic, 60, who guided USC's men's and women's water polo teams to 16 national championships, received about $250,000 in bribes for designating unqualified students as water polo recruits so they could attend the elite Los Angeles school, prosecutors said.

Vavic's defense argued he was just doing what he could to raise money for his dominant, championship-winning program as athletic officials at the school had demanded. They maintained he never lied, never took a bribe and was a victim of USC's desire to protect its reputation and cover up a «pervasive culture» of accepting wealthy students who could provide donation windfalls.

The university, which fired Vavic after his 2019 arrest, has stressed its admissions processes are «not on trial.»

Nearly 60 people, including wealthy and famous parents as well as college coaches and athletic administrators, were charged in the Operation Varsity Blues case, including «Full House» star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli.

Also Friday, a judge is scheduled to sentence Mark Riddell, a former Florida prep school administrator paid handsomely to take college entrance exams for wealthy students seeking admission to elite universities.

The Harvard graduate, who emerged as a key figure in the wide-ranging scandal, admitted to secretly taking the ACT and SAT in place of students or correcting their answers.

Riddell, who had been cooperating with federal authorities in hopes of getting a lesser