Finance firm founder gets 6 months in college bribery scam

The founder of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm was sentenced Wednesday to six months behind bars for paying about $450,000 in bribes to boost his two daughters' entrance exam scores and get one of them into Georgetown University as a bogus tennis recruit.

Manuel Henriquez, the 57-year-old founder and ex-CEO of Hercules Capital based in Palo Alto, California, cried and dabbed his eyes with a tissue as he prayed for forgiveness from his children and other families he hurt, and asked the judge for mercy.

“There is no perfect way to express how broken I feel in my heart and soul,” said Henriquez, who sat next to his lawyer and wore a face mask for much of the hearing held via videoconference because of the coronavirus pandemic.

His wife, Elizabeth Henriquez, was sentenced in March to seven months behind bars. She is currently locked up at a prison in California and is expected to be released in January, according to online records.

The couple paid about $50,000 bribes to have someone cheat multiple times on standardized tests for their daughters, authorities said.

The Henriquezes were also charged with paying $400,000 to the sham charity run by admissions consultant Rick Singer to get their oldest daughter into Georgetown by falsely portraying her as a star tennis player. Singer in turn paid then-Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst in exchange for labeling her as a recruit, authorities say.

Ernst, who's accused of getting nearly $3 million in bribes, has pleaded not guilty.

Singer has pleaded guilty to running the sprawling bribery scheme and helped investigators build the case against the parents.

Henriquez's lawyers said in court documents that his participation in the scheme was “minor and largely passive” as he was busy running his company while his...