(CNN) A Maryland businessman paid Harvard University's former fencing coach at least $1.5 million in bribes, including payments for a car and a house in the suburbs, to get his sons admitted to the Ivy League school, federal prosecutors said in a criminal complaint released Monday. In February 2013, Zhao made a purported donation of $1 million to a fencing charity operated by a co-conspirator, prosecutors say. As Brand recruited Zhao's younger son, the businessman made a series of payments to Brand or for his personal benefit, prosecutors say. The payments allowed Brand to buy a more expensive residence in nearby Cambridge that Zhao then paid to renovate, the complaint states. Documents obtained by CNN show the Cambridge property was originally listed for $989,000 -- just $500 less than what Zhao paid the Needham home.

Source: CNN November 16, 2020 17:37 UTC