Felicity Huffman Pleads Guilty In College Admissions Scandal
One of the most famous people ensnared in the college admissions scandal has agreed to plead guilty.
Felicity Huffman, the actress best known for her parts on Desperate Housewives and Sports Night, will enter a guilty plea in the case, Variety reported, citing the U.S. attorney’s office handling the case.
Huffman joins a dozen other parents involved in the case entering guilty pleas. Lori Loughlin, the other famous actress indicted in connection with the scheme, has not done so.
According to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, the list of those pleading guilty includes lawyer Gordon Caplan and California businessman Peter Jan Sartorio, both announcing their decisions last week. In addition to the parents, several athletic coaches named in the case have entered guilty pleas in recent weeks.
Huffman, per the announcement, “agreed to pay [college admissions scam ringleader William ‘Rick’ Singer] at least $15,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for her oldest daughter.”
“I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly,” Huffman said via Twitter.
When the case was first announced, the actress was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, as was the case with all of the other defendants who pleaded guilty on Monday. Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy of Fargo and Shameless fame, was not charged in the case.
In the far-reaching scam, the largest of its kind in history, Singer facilitated a wide variety of illegal acts in order to help rich and sometimes famous parents improve the college admissions chances of their children. The acts included falsely claiming that the children had nonexistent athletic credentials, faking learning disabilities, and paying off SAT and ACT proctors.
A total of 33 parents were charged in the case when the charges were first announced last month.
Because Singer was caught early on and agreed to cooperate with authorities, he was able to deliver various participants in the scheme to prosecutors through recorded phone calls, and therefore many of them were caught red-handed. This likely led to the fast guilty pleas.
Breaking News: The actress Felicity Huffman and 12 other parents will plead guilty in the college admissions scandal, prosecutors said https://t.co/4BrNjeFdPY
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 8, 2019
None of the parents who pleaded guilty have yet been sentenced, so it’s unclear exactly what type of sentence Huffman may face in the case.
In addition to work on TV series, the 56-year-old Huffman has appeared in such movies as Magnolia, The Spanish Prisoner, and Cake. Her part in the 2005 drama Transamerica, in which she played a transgender woman, earned her an Academy Award nomination.
