Actresses and chief executives are among 50 people arrested in a nationwide college admissions cheating scam, authorities announced Tuesday.
According to charging documents, actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Laughlin are among those involved facing charges.
The suspects allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their kids into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and USC.
In most cases, the students did not know their admission was contingent on a bribe.
University athletic coaches and administrators of college entrance exams were also among those arrested.
The alleged scam centered around a man in California who ran a business helping students get into the college of their choice.
Authorities say parents would pay him a predetermined amount, with full knowledge of what they were doing. He would then steer the money to one of two places: either an SAT or ACT administrator, or a college athletic coach.
The coaches would allegedly arrange a fake profile that listed the prospective student as an athlete, and exam administrators would either hire proctors to take the test or correct the answers of a student.
The bribes ranged from a few thousand dollars to up to 6 million, according to officials. The charging documents, unsealed in Boston federal court, are more than 200 pages long.
They allege that Huffman and her husband "made a purported charitable contribution of $15,000…to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of her eldest daughter. Huffman later made arrangements to pursue the scheme a second time, for her younger daughter, before deciding not to do so."
Federal agents say they have recorded telephone calls with Huffman and a cooperating witness.
The documents say the Laughlin and her husband "agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team – despite the fact that they did not participate in crew – thereby facilitating their admission to USC."
Official say they have emails from Laughlin.
https://abc11.com/actresses-ceos-charged-in-alleged-college-admissions-scam/5186103/