Another Coach Turns to Houston Lawyers in Admissions Fraud Scandal
White-collar pros Dane Ball and Shaun Clarke represent Bill Ferguson, who was the women's volleyball coach at Wake Forest University.
March 28, 2019 at 05:27 PM
4 minute read
Dane Ball, left, and Shaun Clarke, partners at Smyser Kaplan & Veselka, Houston. (Courtesy photo)
Houston white-collar defense lawyers Dane Ball and Shaun Clarke, like their former colleague David Gerger, have landed roles representing a coach who faces criminal charges in the college admissions scandal.
Ball and Clarke, partners at Smyser Kaplan & Veselka who have handled a number of high-profile matters, are counsel for William Ferguson, who was the women's volleyball coach at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Ferguson pleaded not guilty at a hearing on Monday to a charge of racketeering conspiracy before a magistrate judge in Boston, and is out on bond. The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $50,000 from Ferguson, who was put on administrative leave by the university.
Ball said Ferguson is innocent. He said federal prosecutors lumped together all of the colleges and universities and laid out a “litany of abuses” that included inaccurate test scores, unqualified students and phony athletic profiles.
“None of that applies to Wake Forest and none of that applies to Bill Ferguson. He is unique,” Ball said.
The indictment in United States v. Ernst alleges that Ferguson and others engaged in an “enterprise” to pave the way for children of wealthy individuals to be admitted to elite private and public colleges and universities, either by unlawfully helping them get higher scores on college entrance exams or by securing admission for them as recruited athletes.
The indictment alleges William “Rick” Singer, owner of a college counseling company implicated in the scheme, directed $100,000 be paid to Ferguson, including $40,000 to Wake Forest Women's Volleyball and $50,000 to a private volleyball camp Ferguson controlled.
“In exchange for this money, Ferguson agreed to designate the daughter of one of Singer's clients—who had previously applied to Wake Forest and had been placed on the wait list—as a recruit for the women's volleyball team, thereby facilitating her admission to the university,” the indictment alleges.
Ball and Clarke formerly worked with Gerger, a partner in Gerger Khalil & Hennessy, at Houston boutique Gerger & Clarke and then briefly at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Houston. Ball and Clarke moved to Smyser Kaplan in 2014, only three months after joining Quinn Emanuel. Gerger later left Quinn Emanuel and formed Gerger Khalil.
Gerger is representing Martin Fox, the president of a private tennis academy and camp in Houston who has been indicted in the college admissions scam.
Ball and Clarke represent Ferguson with assistance from Smyser Kaplan associate Alexander Wolf and Kearns Davis, a white-collar criminal defense attorney at Brooks Pierce McLendon Humphrey & Leonard in North Carolina.
Ball declined to say what led to Ferguson hiring them.
Ball and Clarke have handled a number of prominent white-collar cases, including winning a not-guilty verdict in 2017 for a Louisiana dentist accused by federal prosecutors of profiting from an insider trading scheme. The two lawyers also successfully represented Texas Rep. Dawnna Dukes, a Democrat from Austin, who had been indicted on corruption charges. Partly for those representations, Smyser Kaplan won Texas Lawyer's Litigation Department of the Year 2018 in the small firm category.
The Texas lawyers are among a parade of defense attorneys from around the country representing defendants in the massive and highly watched criminal prosecution, including lawyers from at least 15 Am Law 100 firms.
Read More:
Houston Lawyer Representing Tennis Coach in College Admissions Scandal
More Firms Snag Defense Roles in College Admissions Cases
Litigation Department of the Year 2018: Smyser Kaplan & Veselka
Smyser Kaplan Expands White-Collar Practice
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