Prosecutors accused Vavic of taking more than $200,000 in bribes to fake athletic credentials and designate college applicants as water polo athletes to get them into USC.
Vavic’s lawyers argued at trial that he was just doing what he could to raise money for his dominant program as athletic officials at the elite Los Angeles school had demanded. They argued he was always acting in the best interests of the school and his team, never lied and never took a bribe. Yet some of the alleged bribe money went to the water polo program — not Vavic himself — and “there was no evidence in the record to suggest that Vavic was taking USC Water Polo team money for his own benefit,” the judge wrote. Even so, prosecutors argued he was acting contrary to the university’s interests in accepting that money, the judge wrote.
Vavic’s attorney, Stephen Larson, said in an email that the judge’s ruling “protects Coach Vavic from a wrongful conviction.”