Ex-USC water polo coach gets new admissions scam trial

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) — A federal judge has ordered a new trial for a former decorated University of Southern California water polo coach convicted in the sprawling college admissions bribery scandal. In throwing out Jovan Vavic’s fraud and bribery conviction, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani found some evidence introduced by the government to be unreliable and that prosecutors erred in their argument to jurors about some of the alleged bribe money. Vavic was convicted in April after being arrested in March 2019 in the headline-grabbing “Operation Varsity Blues” investigation. He had guided USC’s men’s and women’s water polo teams to 16 national championships.