College cheating scandal

A-LIST How Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin’s actions may cause issues money can’t fix

ANSWERING THE DOOR HER LOS Angeles mansion at 6am on March 12, star Felicity Huffman was faced with a wall of FBI agents with their guns drawn. According to the Los Angeles Times, she was handcuffed and informed of charges against her in a college-admissions fraud case called Operation Varsity Blues by the FBI. Unsealed US federal court records in Boston lay out a 204-page indictment against nearly 50 defendants, including Huffman and Fuller House actress Lori Loughlin, who were allegedly part of a scam involving elite colleges and universities including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford, among others. While authorities are still investigating the scope of the scandal, prosecutors allege that Huffman paid $US15,000 to an admissions consultant who facilitated cheating on Huffman’s daughter Sofia Grace’s SAT test, which she took in December 2017, by having a university invigilator correct her answers. Huffman’s husband, actor William H. Macy, accompanied her to court but has not been indicted in the investigation. He was allegedly recorded discussing the plot, but Huffman was the one who reportedly sent the emails organising the exam scheme. Prosecutors say they also have recordings of Huffman talking about the scheme for her younger daughter, Georgia Grace, but she ended up not going ahead with it. She has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and has been released on $US250,000 bail. The complaint against Fuller House star Loughlin alleges that she and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, “agreed to pay bribes totalling $US500,000” to designate their daughters Olivia Jade, 19, and Isabella, 20, as recruits on the University of Southern California crew team — even though they don’t even row. “They are average students. They have never been obsessed with

school and didn’t seem to care that much. They attended school because their parents made them,” a source tells WHO. “Their focus was never about getting straight As. It was always clear that it was the parents that pushed them to go to school.”

All of those charged are due to face court again in Boston on March 29. US Legal expert, James L. Leonard Jr, says prison time could be a possibility, though it’s not likely. “A custodial term is always a possibility when you are charged with felonies,” he tells WHO. “We are talking about parents who tried to help their children and crossed the line in doing so.”

And that’s not their only concern. According to lawsuit documents published by Deadline.com, California mother Jennifer Kay Toy, who claims the alleged scam prevented her son Joshua from getting into an elite university, has sued both actresses, among others involved, for $US500 billion. “My son, my only child, was denied access to a college not because he failed to work and study hard enough,” she wrote in her class-action lawsuit. “But because wealthy individuals felt … it was OK to lie, cheat, steal and bribe their children’s way into a good college.”

Now, Youtube star Olivia (see box) and Isabella, “are upset, scared and embarrassed,” a source tells WHO. “It’s just a nightmare to them that both of their parents were arrested.” A second source adds, “The whole family wants to hide from the world.” •