The actor Felicity Huffman announced on Monday (8) she will plead guilty to the charge in connection with the college admissions cheating scandal that erupted last month.
Huffman is one of 14 parents who have said they will plead guilty. She was arrested on March 12 and later released on $250,000 bail after federal prosecutors in Boston unsealed a criminal complaint in which she and dozens of others were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
The indictment concerned the allegation that parents cheated the college admissions system in a bid to secure admission for their children in what investigating FBI agents called Operation Varsity Blues.
Huffman is accused of disguising a $15,000 charitable payment to pay someone to sit her daughter’s SAT college entrance exam. William “Rick” Singer, the alleged mastermind of the scheme, has pleaded guilty to a number of felonies related to the case. Actor Lori Loughlin has not yet entered a plea.
“I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney’s Office,” Huffman said in the statement. “I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.
“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. My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty.”
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