October 06, 2018
Former Penn men’s basketball head coach Jerome Allen plead guilty this week to accepting a bribe of $18,000 from the parent of a prospective student in 2014.
Allen, who is currently an assistant with the Boston Celtics, will reportedly repay the bribe and be fined $200,000, and could also face a suspension when the NBA season begins.
Allegations of Allen’s misconduct first surfaced in mid-July, via a report by Bloomberg.
“I failed on so many levels,” Allen said this week in a statement to the Boston Globe. “Primarily, I had a failure of character. I did not live up to the high standards I set for myself, or were expected of me in the position that I held. I am sorry.”
The bribe reportedly involved businessman Philip Esformes, who allegedly paid Allen to help his son gain admission to Penn by making him a “listed recruit” to admissions officers. (Penn, like other Ivy League schools, doesn’t award traditional scholarships to athletes.)
According to Bloomberg, the school’s athletics website doesn’t list Esformes’ son as a player for the Penn varsity team under Allen’s successor, Steve Donahue.
The Celtics open their regular season in Boston against the Sixers on Oct. 16.
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