"Desperate Housewife" star - Felicity Huffman talks about her university bribery scandal for the first time
For the first time, Felicity Huffman (60) has spoken about her role in the college admissions scandal that ultimately landed her in jail. In an interview with "ABC7", the Oscar-nominated actress now explained: "People assume that I was looking for a way to cheat the system and that I was doing proverbial back-alley criminal deals, but that wasn't the case."
Huffmann was convicted of paying $15,000 to Rick Singer, the mastermind of the fraud scheme. He made sure that the results of her daughter's exams were falsified. Now Huffman explained that she saw Singer as a renowned college advisor whom she trusted implicitly.
Felicity Huffman: "I felt like I would be a bad mom if I didn't do it"
"After a year, he started saying, 'Your daughter is not going to get accepted to any of the colleges she wants to go to.' And so I believed him," she explains her decision. Paying the bribe seemed to her at the time to be the only way to give her daughter "a chance at a future." She continues: "I had the feeling that I would be a bad mother if I didn't do it. So I did it." On the way to the exam, the actress was plagued by a guilty conscience, she recalls: "I thought the whole time, 'Turn around, just turn around', but to my shame I didn't."
The "Desperate Housewives" actress served eleven days of her 14-day sentence in prison in October 2019. She was also sentenced to 250 hours of community service and a year's probation.
Her husband, "Shameless" star William H. Macy (73), was not charged in connection with the incident. Their daughter, who is said not to have known about the bribe, later retook the test and was accepted into the theater program at Carnegie Mellon University, where she is currently studying.
Singer is said to have taken 25 million dollars
Rick Singer was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in January. He had helped numerous celebrities and wealthy parents to get their children into elite universities despite their lack of achievements. His clients also included "Full House" actress Lori Loughlin (59) and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli (60). Singer is said to have received a total of more than 25 million dollars for his illegal services.
Read also:
- Despite her conviction for paying $15,000 in the college bribery scandal, Felicity Huffman viewed Rick Singer as a trusted college advisor.
- Following her involvement in the scandal, Felicity Huffman served eleven days in prison, received 250 hours of community service, and was placed on a year's probation.
- Huffman's role in the scandal, which also involved her daughter, amounted to a significant scandal in Hollywood, earning widespread media attention.
- As a result of the bribery scandal, many prominent figures, including Felicity Huffman, were accused of engaging in illegal activities to secure their children's college admissions.
Source: www.stern.de
