Netflix & producers of Operation Varsity Blue sued by John Wilson for false-representation

Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal took a deep dive into the fraudulent methods used by Rick Singer to get children into top U.S. universities. One of the real life characters, John B. Wilson shown in the documentary has sued Netflix Inc. over the information portrayed in the documentary. He has pleaded not guilty in the federal case and is awaiting trial.

John B Wilson sues producers of College Scam case & Netflix

John B Wilson is a private equity and real estate executive who is accused of paying bribes to get his children into prestigious colleges in the USA. According to the lawsuit filed in Superior Court in Essex County Massachusetts, “The Wilson family has been subjected to multiple instances of unfair and inaccurate reporting” and “In recent days, however, they have been forced to endure the ultimate destruction of their reputations in the eyes of more than 200 million global Netflix subscribers”.

The documentary claims that John B Wilson used wrongful methods to secure admissions for his children and the methods included photo-shopping pictures to fake his kids’ athleticism. The documentary also claimed that Wilson had other people take college admissions tests for his children.

A press release on the lawsuit sheds lights on how the viewers of the film were led to believe, “the false and defamatory impression that the Wilsons engaged in conduct to which others have pled guilty such as having a non-athlete child apply to college as an athlete, photo-shopping pictures to fake their athleticism, and having others take college admissions tests for their children”. Moreover, the lawyer of Wilson, Howard Cooper stated that the jurors in Wilson’s trial may be prejudiced against him because of the wrong portrayals in the documentary film.

In an interview published on ToddWeld.com with attorney Howard Cooper, it has been revealed that Wilson’s lawyers met with Netflix and the movie producers before the film aired. In the meeting, the lawyers submitted evidence in favour of the Wilsons to Netflix and producers of the film. The evidence included the results of a polygraph test that clears Wilson of wrongdoing.

According to the interview, Cooper also presented the film producers and Netflix with proofs that his client’s son was a star athlete on his high school’s water polo team. Moreover, Wilson’s daughters took their college admissions exams on their own and one even got a perfect score, claims the lawyer. This information has been misrepresented in the documentary, claims the lawyer.

Image credits: Screenshot from trailer