Apologetic actress Felicity Huffman gets 14-day sentence in U.S. college scandal

By Valerie Vande Panne

 

Actress Felicity Huffman leaves the federal courthouse with her husband William H. Macy, after being sentenced in connection with a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., September 13, 2019. REUTERS/Katherine Taylor

 

BOSTON (Reuters) - Actress Felicity Huffman, the first parent sentenced in a wide-ranging U.S. college admissions cheating scandal, was given a 14-day prison term on Friday and made a somber apology in federal court for paying to rig her daughter's entrance exam.

 

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also ordered Huffman, the former star of the popular television series "Desperate Housewives" and one-time Academy Award nominee, to pay a $30,000 fine, undergo a year of supervised release and complete 250 hours of community service. Huffman, 56, pleaded guilty in May.

 

"My first apology is to you," Huffman, wearing a black dress, told the judge immediately before being sentenced.

"I realize now as a mother that love and truth must go hand in hand, and love at the expense of truth is not real love," the actress said. "I will deserve whatever punishment you give me."

 

Huffman was released from court after the judge ordered her to report to prison on Oct. 25. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, who had been seated in the courtroom and is not charged in the scheme, immediately approached her after court adjourned and rubbed her shoulders.

 

The scandal cast a spotlight on the advantages of wealth in college admissions and the lengths to which some rich Americans have gone to get their children into top universities at the expense of other applicants.

 

Huffman was among 51 people charged in a vast scheme in which wealthy parents were accused of conspiring to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure for their children admission to prominent U.S. universities. These schools included Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas and Wake Forest.

 

After the sentencing hearing, Huffman issued a statement expanding on her apology.

 

"I especially want to apologise to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children," Huffman said in the statement.

 

"My hope now is that my family, my friends and my community will forgive me for my actions," Huffman added.

 

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of one month behind bars after Huffman tearfully entered a guilty plea to conspiracy related to her payment of $15,000 to have someone secretly correct answers her daughter Sophia provided on the SAT standardized test used for college admissions.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said incarceration was the only way to punish a wealthy person like Huffman whose real currency is fame.

 

"In prison there are no paparazzi. It's the great leveler," Rosen said.

 

Huffman's lawyer, Martin Murphy, said the actress and particularly her daughter Sophia had suffered enough and urged the judge to limit the punishment to probation. In the days after Huffman's arrest, her daughter's top choice college rescinded its acceptance of her.

 

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

 

"There are consequences. Her daughter is not going to school. Consequences are likely to continue," Murphy told the judge.

 

More than 30 parents were charged in the investigation dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, also including actress Lori Loughlin, who starred in the TV series "Full House," and her designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, as well as a host of corporate executives, financiers and lawyers. Unlike Huffman, Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded not guilty.

 

Prosecutors said the accused parents acted with the help of William "Rick" Singer, a California college admissions consultant who pleaded guilty in March to helping bribe university sports coaches to present clients' children as fake athletic recruits. Singer's sentencing is set for later this month.

 

Huffman, who won an Emmy award for "Desperate Housewives" and was nominated for an Oscar as best actress for her role in the 2005 film "Transamerica," said the cheating scheme was proposed by Singer.

 

Huffman said her daughter was unaware of the scheme until the actress was arrested on March 12.

 

"I find Motherhood bewildering," Huffman said in a letter to the judge before sentencing.

 

"My daughter looked at me and asked with tears streaming down her face, 'Why didn't you believe in me? Why didn't you think I could do it on my own?' ... I have compromised my daughter's future, the wholeness of my family and my own integrity," Huffman said in her letter.

 

Macy, 69, said their daughter "certainly paid the dearest price" when her desired school - which remained unnamed in court documents - rescinded its acceptance of her after Huffman's arrest.

 

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Will Dunham)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-14

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Massive LOL at every yank who laments that Thailands justice system protects the rich and famous. Turns out that is exactly what has happened here in your own country. 

Waaaaa waaaa 2 weeks?how much money was involved?If a minority person did this they would be looking at years in prison 

Pathetic sentence, but there you go. Why am I not surprised?

It was bad luck for her to get caught doing what almost every parents want for their children, many have done the same and many more will continue to rort the system providing you have the money for it of course...

The sentence was a ridiculous slap on the risk.  The value of the place at the university that she stole makes her crime a serious felony.  The prosecutor was right that only hard time can deter similar criminals.  And how did William H. Macy dodge an endictment, since he was reported to have participated in the conspiracy?  Whole thing stinks.

Am a bit confused and have not followed this story. 

But it seems to me the College admissions office personnel who accepted the bribe should be prosecuted also.

Disgusting, much like Thailand. 

Should have given her 14 years. What a waste of a justice system.

she would have gone far in Thailand, the land of bribes

According to the news report, the prosecutor asked for a 1 month prison sentence, the defense attorney asked for probation only, and the judge split the difference with a two week sentence.  Just like in Thailand, in the U.S. especially in federal court, pleading guilty often gets you a considerably lighter sentence.

In looking back at some prior reports, indeed, Huffman and her legal team struck a plea bargain deal with federal prosecutors some months back in which she agreed to plead guilty to a single charge in exchange for a reduced sentence. And the one charge she pleaded guilty to has a sentencing guideline of zero to six months incarceration.

 

In contrast, the articles I've recalled reading about the two other most famous defendants, Loughlin and Giannulli, talked about them facing multiple years in prison under the federal offenses they've been charged with and are still fighting vs. pleading guilty. 

 

Edited September 14, 20196 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

46 minutes ago, Skallywag said:

Am a bit confused and have not followed this story. 

But it seems to me the College admissions office personnel who accepted the bribe should be prosecuted also.

I believe the other people involved have been charged.   In this case, a person was paid to change the answers on the SAT test, so the admissions personnel may not have any involvement.  

 

In some of the other cases, it was sport's coaches that were paid to put students on teams in sports they did not play.  

 

One report said that Huffman was caught on tape, not her husband so he skated.

Joke; but looked where it happened a nation of white supremacists.

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"I realize now as a mother that love and truth must go hand in hand, and love at the expense of truth is not real love," the actress said. "I will deserve whatever punishment you give me."

Who wrote her lines?

16 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of one month behind bars after Huffman tearfully entered a guilty plea to conspiracy

she is an award winning actress, you know... 

Edited September 14, 20196 yr by Scott

The US justice system is completely broken and as corrupt as it gets. It is different form of corruption. You spend millions on powerful and well connected lawyers, and they "influence" the people who need to make a determination as to how long you go to jail for, or decide if you can walk free like a jaybird. 

 

The sentence is so far beyond a sham, it is hard to even comment on, or justify on any level. She deserved at least five years of hard time. 

4 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

The sentence is so far beyond a sham, it is hard to even comment on, or justify on any level. She deserved at least five years of hard time. 

 

Let's keep some bit of perspective here -- she paid someone to cheat on her daughter's SAT exam results.

 

It's not like she murdered someone or robbed a bank or such...

 

I'm not excusing or defending what she did... But 5 years for paying to cheat on an SAT exam, that's going a bit overboard.

 

21 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Let's keep some bit of perspective here -- she paid someone to cheat on her daughter's SAT exam results.

 

It's not like she murdered someone or robbed a bank or such...

 

I'm not excusing or defending what she did... But 5 years for paying to cheat on an SAT exam, that's going a bit overboard.

 

It is not simply about cheating on the SAT exam. It is a total corruption of the qualification system for university. It is a total perversion of the system, that only wealthy people can afford. It discredits the entire entrance system. It is far larger than it appears to be. Prison time would have been appropriate. Frankly, robbing a bank would have been a far nobler thing to do. 

27 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Let's keep some bit of perspective here -- she paid someone to cheat on her daughter's SAT exam results.

 

It's not like she murdered someone or robbed a bank or such...

 

I'm not excusing or defending what she did... But 5 years for paying to cheat on an SAT exam, that's going a bit overboard.

 

Six months in jail and a $250,000 fine sounds right to me.

5 hours ago, SammyT said:

Massive LOL at every yank who laments that Thailands justice system protects the rich and famous. Turns out that is exactly what has happened here in your own country. 

A massive LOL for a statement which is puzzling in its comparison and nationalistic its content. 

Wish my parents could have paid to keep me out the System. Away from those lefty Malcontents they call Teachers these days.!.


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1 hour ago, Benmart said:

A massive LOL for a statement which is puzzling in its comparison and nationalistic its content. 

Not really it shows that in the US the rich have a lot of advantages and abuse them just like in Thailand. There are also a lot of US (and other nationalities) bashing Thailand at every chance while forgetting the faults in their own country.

 

Kinda like the Brits in the topic of the Brit that fell into glass moaning about safety glass and how Thailand has no safety while they had their own disaster grenfell tower that showed that they have a lot of safety problems too.

 

A lot of people love to bash other countries while forgetting that their country is far from perfect.

 

I am Dutch and not nationalistic at all. I fully accept my country has its faults and don't bash Thailand all the time.

3 hours ago, legend49 said:

Joke; but looked where it happened a nation of white supremacists.

Joke :  those supremacists couldn't of done it without black and latinos. I don't mention Asians because they don't do that white supremacists scene.

1 hour ago, IAMHERE said:

Asians because they don't do that white supremacists scene.

No they dont.  They do TM30's and TM47's instead  ????

3 hours ago, zydeco said:

Six months in jail and a $250,000 fine sounds right to me.

You would be the right judge in Thailand...... ????

Oh! I'm so sorry, I got caught, how inconvenient. What shall we do now honey? I know let's go drop a grand on lunch and maybe I'll drop by Chanel and buy myself a 20K bag to make myself feel better.

4 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

It is not simply about cheating on the SAT exam. It is a total corruption of the qualification system for university. It is a total perversion of the system, that only wealthy people can afford. It discredits the entire entrance system. It is far larger than it appears to be. Prison time would have been appropriate. Frankly, robbing a bank would have been a far nobler thing to do. 

 

You're right about the overall reach of the scheme that the Singer guy who was behind all this achieved. It was a corruption of the university entrance/admissions process at a lot of prominent U.S. universities, and HE deserves to be punished for that.

 

SHE, on the other hand, was just one of many customers for it, and in her case, wasn't nearly as egregious as the Loughlins who knowingly paid a whole lot more money to actually improperly gain their daughters' admission to USC by getting staff at the school to falsely credit them with being on the crew/rowing team.

 

Despite Huffman's celebrity status, in the overall scope of the various folks involved in this scam as both perpetrators and customers, she was on the lower end of the scale. And although she played a role, she certainly was not responsible for the "total corruption of the qualification system for university."

4 hours ago, zydeco said:

Six months in jail and a $250,000 fine sounds right to me.

 

That would be more in my ballpark for what Huffman actually did, compared to the 5 years Spidermike is suggesting above.

 

One of the things Huffman gained by entering into a prior plea deal with federal prosecutors was pleading guilty to just a single federal charge that carried a sentencing range of only 0 - 6 months in prison, and of course not contesting that charge/fighting it in court.

14 days in jail plus a $30,000 fine, undergo a year of supervised release and 250 hours of community service:

 

Here, she would have posed for photos with the police, gone to a nunnery for a couple weeks, and then gone on her way.