Douglas Hodge

Douglas M. Hodge (born in 1957) is an American businessman. He is the former CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), the world's largest bond manager. He pleaded guilty in October 2019 to the felony of conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering. In February 2020 he was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, and to pay a $750,000 fine and serve 500 hours of community service, for his participation in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.

Early life

Hodge was born in New York, New York, and grew up in suburban Boston and Connecticut. He received an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College (BA in Economics, 1979), and an MBA from Harvard Business School (1984).

Work career Hodge worked first as a bond trader at Salomon Brothers from 1984 to 1989. He concluding by saying that for the industry to restore trust, "it starts at the top, with us, the leaders of the financial industry. Both as firms and as individuals, we need to personify trustworthy values... Willful violations of the rules should not be tolerated... [What is needed is] a stronger emphasis on ethics and integrity." In 2014 it was reported that he had received an annual bonus of $45 million. He was also on PIMCO's executive committee, and on the global executive committee for Allianz Asset Management, the governing body of asset management for the Allianz Group.

College admissions bribery scandal

In March 2019 Hodge appeared in US federal district court in Boston to face charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud, asserting that he allegedly paid over a half a million dollars in bribes so that three of his children would be admitted into Georgetown University and the University of Southern California (USC), as part the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal. He did not enter a plea.

Hodge first began paying Singer in 2008, when he wanted to have Georgetown University admit one of his daughters.

The charges provide for sentences of a maximum of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

He pleaded guilty in October 2019 to conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering. In February 2020 he was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, and to pay a $750,000 fine and serve 500 hours of community service, as a result of the charges. He was imprisoned in the Federal Correctional Institution, Otisville and was released on 03/19/2021.