Felicity Huffman Breaks Silence on Role in College Admissions Scandal
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Felicity Huffman has opened up about her role in the infamous college admissions scandal for the first time.
The 2019 investigation into the conspiracy, known as Operation Varsity Blues, resulted in 33 wealthy—some of them being celebrity—parents facing federal charges. Among them were Huffman, 60, Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli.
As for why Huffman risked it all, she said she was only thinking about her daughter's future.
"It felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future," the Desperate Housewives alum told ABC reporters in a piece published on Thursday, Nov. 30. "And so it was sort of like my daughter's future, which meant I had to break the law."
She explained that she didn't reach out to former college admission consultant Rick Singer with the intent of paying to inflate her daughter's SAT scores.
"After a year, he started to say your daughter is not going to get into any of the colleges that she wants to," Huffman shared. "And I believed him. And so when he slowly started to present the criminal scheme, it seems like - and I know this seems crazy at the time - but that was my only option to give my daughter a future."
"And I know hindsight is 20/20, but it felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn't do it," Huffman continued, "So, I did it."
After becoming part of the scheme–which saw Singer arranging to inflate test scores or, in some cases, bribe school officials for a hefty fee–Huffman was arrested for her part.
She recounted the experience, telling the outlet that she initially thought it was a "joke."
"[The FBI] came into my home. They woke my daughters up at gunpoint. Again, nothing new to the Black and brown community. Then they put my hands behind my back and handcuffed me and I asked if I could get dressed."
"I thought it was a hoax," Huffman went on. "I literally turned to one of the FBI people, in a flak jacket and a gun, and I went, is this a joke?"
It wasn't.
In March 2019, Huffman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud after paying $15,000 to falsify her daughter's test scores. She was sentenced to 11 days in jail, supervised release for one year, 250 hours of community service and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.
She also apologized: "I think the people I owe a debt and apology to is the academic community. And to the students and the families that sacrifice and work really hard to get to where they are going legitimately."
As for the Loughlin family, the Hallmark star pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two months in prison and Giannulli to five. She was also ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 150 hours of community service, while her husband had to pay a $250,000 fine and serve 250 hours of community service.
The ringleader was ordered to serve three and a half years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and pay more than $10 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
