Parents Duped by ‘Ultimate Con Man’ in College Scam, Jury Told

Lawyers for the first parents to go on trial in the U.S. college admissions scandal told jurors the scheme’s mastermind was the “ultimate con man,” who convinced their clients that the hundreds of thousands of dollars they paid him to get their children into elite schools were legitimate donations.

Brian Kelly, defending former Wynn Resorts Ltd. executive Gamal Abdelaziz, tried to make the point by playing a videotaped pitch the ringleader once made to Starbucks executives on getting their kids into college through a “side door,” in which he boasted of having worked with 61,000 families.

The lawyers assailed William ...