A former television executive and attorney, Elisabeth Kimmel, lost her attempt to undo her guilty plea in the "Varsity Blues" college admissions scandal, with a federal judge affirming that her conviction stands. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton ruled on December 31 that Kimmel's plea was voluntary and knowing, and that a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling did not affect the government's case against her.

Kimmel, who paid $525,000 to William "Rick" Singer to secure fake athletic admissions for her children at Georgetown University and the University of Southern California, argued that her guilty plea relied on the concept that a university slot constitutes "property" under the law. She contended that the 2023 Supreme Court ruling in Ciminelli v. U.S., which rejected the “right to control fraud” theory, should invalidate her conviction.

Judge Gorton disagreed, stating that Kimmel was charged under two separate theories, one of which was not impacted by the Ciminelli ruling. The judge emphasized that Kimmel, a Harvard-educated attorney, had entered her plea with full knowledge and had already lost an attempt to dismiss the indictment on similar grounds.

“Kimmel entered into her plea agreement knowingly and voluntarily, after losing a battle to dismiss the indictment on many of the same grounds she now raises,” Judge Gorton wrote. “No miscarriage of justice will result from the rightful enforcement of the collateral attack waiver in Kimmel's plea agreement.”

The judge further clarified that Kimmel had agreed with the government's version of the facts, which included the argument that the admissions spots themselves were valuable assets or property of the universities, a theory unaffected by Ciminelli.

Kimmel's attorney, Eóin Beirne of Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC, indicated that an appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals is forthcoming.

"We are disappointed with Judge Gorton's ruling and will pursue an immediate appeal," Beirne said.

The government's legal team, which includes prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, had argued that Kimmel's motion to vacate the plea was based on a distorted version of events, pointing out that she had pleaded guilty with the assistance of experienced counsel.

Kimmel was one of many parents charged in the nationwide scandal, where fraudulent schemes were used to secure spots at prestigious colleges. Despite over 50 guilty pleas and multiple trial convictions, ongoing rulings have called into question the legal theories originally used to prosecute the case.

The case is U.S. v. Colburn, case number 1:19-cr-10080, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.