BOSTON – “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman has agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal on Monday.
Huffman, along with 12 other prominent parents, will admit to charges in the scheme which authorities say involved rigging standardized test scores and bribing coaches at prestigious universities such as Yale and Georgetown.
The “Desperate Housewives” star was accused of paying a consultant, Rick Singer, $15,000 disguised as a charitable donation to boost her daughter’s SAT score.
Authorities say the 56-year-old actress also talked about doing the same thing for her younger daughter but ultimately decided not to.
Huffman will plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to court documents.
Other parents charged in the scheme include prominent figures in law, finance, fashion, the food and beverage industry and other fields. It’s the biggest college admissions scandal ever prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department.
Fellow actress Lori Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the sitcom “Full House,” and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli are charged with paying $500,000 in bribes to get their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as crew recruits, even though neither participated in the sport.
Loughlin and Giannulli are not among those who’ve agreed to plead guilty and haven’t publicly addressed the allegations.
Singer, the consultant, pleaded guilty to charges including racketeering conspiracy on March 12, the same day the allegations against the parents and coaches were made public in the so-called Operation Varsity Blues investigation.
Singer secretly recorded his conversations with the parents, helping to build the case against them after agreeing to work with investigators in the hopes of getting a lighter sentence.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)
