According to CNN, actress Felicity Huffman, who’s known for her role on Desperate Housewives, will appear in Boston on Monday to plead guilty to allegedly paying $15,000 to Rick Singer’s fake charity that allegedly improved her daughter’s SAT scores. Once convicted, prosecutors will pursue a four to 10 month sentence for the actress.
Rick Singer, the man at the center of the college admission scandal, has previously confessed to allegedly helping parents cheat on standardized tests on behalf of their children. But Singer’s crimes do not end there. He also confessed to allegedly bribing college coaches, who would in turn allegedly select these students as recruited athletes. This supplemented their college applications, and made admission into elite universities easier.
In emails between Singer and Huffman, investigators found that the two allegedly arranged for Huffman’s daughter to receive extra time and take the SAT at a location whose administrator had allegedly been bribed by Singer.
Without Singer’s help, Huffman’s daughter initially received roughly a 1020 SAT score out of a possible 1600. Her new SAT score was an impressive 1420.
Back in April, Huffman pled guilty to two other charges: conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. This places her among 13 other wealthy parents found guilty of partaking in Singer’s scam. 17 other parents have pled not guilty. Of these is actress Lori Loughlin.
Alongside her brother, Huffman delivered the following statement at court in April: “I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, 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.”
As reward for her guilty plea, federal prosecutors have promised to recommend the actress for a shorter incarceration period, in addition to a $20,000 fine and 12 months of supervision following her release. This is all according to the plea agreement, as described by CNN.
Meanwhile, William H. Macy, Huffman’s husband, faces no charges in the case.