Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin busted in college admissions cheating scandal
TV actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among dozens of people charged with paying bribes to get their kids into top universities in a widespread college admissions scam, prosecutors announced on Tuesday.
More than 40 people have been indicted in the scheme that allegedly involved students gaining entrance to schools including Georgetown, Stanford, Wake Forest University, UCLA and Yale as recruited athletes — regardless of their athletic ability — or on inflated college entrance exam test scores.
Some deep-pocketed parents paid as much as $6.5 million — while most plunked down between $250,000 and $400,000.
“There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy and there will not be a separate criminal justice system either,” said Massachusetts US Attorney Andrew Lelling at a press conference. “We’re not talking about donating a building so a school is more likely to take your son or daughter, we’re talking about deception or fraud, fake test scores … bribed college officials.”
Federal prosecutors in Boston say parents paid an admissions consultant, William Rick Singer, $25 million from 2011 through February 2019 to bribe the coaches and administrators in order to help their kids get accepted.
The California college-prep expert is also accused of steering some of that money to SAT and ACT administrators, who would then either take the test for the student or change their answers to the correct ones after the fact.
Bogus athletic profiles were made to look as though the students were qualified athletes in order to boost the kids’ chances of getting in — when they actually weren’t involved in sports.
“Some simply never showed up for the athletics, some showed up with an injury and I think some played briefly and then quit,” he said.
In all, 33 parents have been charged though Lelling hinted that more arrests could be coming.
“There are more than that, but I’m not prepared to give you a total,” he said at a press conference.
No students have been charged and it appears the majority of them had no idea about their parents’ alleged shady involvement. None of the schools were involved in Singer’s alleged scam.
Huffman, who starred in the ABC hit series “Desperate Housewives,” and Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the sitcom “Full House,” are facing charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
In Huffman’s case, she and her husband allegedly made a “purported charitable contribution” of $15,000 in order to weasel her elder daughter into school, according to court papers cited by ABC.
She allegedly later made similar arrangements for her younger daughter — but then backed out.
Huffman has been married to fellow actor William H. Macy, who’s earned Emmy nominations for his role on “Shameless.”
The feds say they have recorded telephone calls with Huffman and a cooperating witness.
Loughlin, meanwhile, and her husband “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC,” court documents said.
Authorities say they have emails from Loughlin to prove their charges.
A slew of college athletic coaches are also charged, including former Yale University women’s soccer coach Rudolph “Rudy” Meredith, who is accused of accepting payments from parents of college applicants.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Joseph Bonavolonta said charges are the result of a 10-month investigation dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.” He said 38 people have been taken into custody, seven are working toward surrender and one is being actively pursued.
Four people — including Singer — are expected to plead guilty.
“We believe everyone charged here today had a role in cultivating a culture of corruption and greed,” Bonavolonta said. “Their actions were without a doubt insidious, selfish and shameful.”
Reps for Loughlin, Huffman and Macy didn’t immediately return messages.
With Post wires