Brian Townsend is a student who purchased plagiarized papers from Caroline Pereira and was a suspect in her murder. Townsend panicked when an investigation was going to lead to him at Hudson University, and he failed to bribe Caroline into silence, when she flashed a ring she fleeced in a poker game cheat.
When Caroline was murdered, he denied involvement, and he led to Caroline's roommate Gloria Kulhane, because she stole the ring for herself, and was Caroline's most frequently paying student. Gloria was revealed to have ordered his boyfriend and Caroline's best friend, Adam Halder, to strangle Caroline because her poker playing led to massive debts, and Gloria still wanted Adam spending all his money on her despite Gloria coming from entitlement and already affording all she wanted. (SVU: "Class")