The lives of Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were forever changed five years ago when they were exposed as participants in a sweeping college admissions scandal.
Huffman, Loughlin and Loughlin’s husband Mossimo Giannulli were three of more than 50 people charged in the case — dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues” by the feds — which saw wealthy parents paying college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer, who ran The Edge College & Career Network, for a “side door” into elite universities, including University of Southern California, Yale and Stanford.
Singer, who took in more than $25 million in the scheme, paid off SAT and ACT administrators to have test takers secretly take the exams for students or to correct students’ answers after the exam. He bribed university athletic coaches and administrators to facilitate the admission of students designated as athletic recruits in sports they didn’t play competitively. Singer had a second business, a nonprofit, which allowed clients to deduct their bribery payments from their income taxes.
After being caught, Singer — who’s serving 3.5 years in prison on charges including racketeering conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy — cooperated with the FBI to gather evidence against the co-conspirators, including Loughlin and Huffman, who became the faces of the scandal. However, what they were accused of and how they navigated it were two different stories.
Felicity’s fall: My ‘old life died’
Before her arrest: Huffman was best known for playing Lynette Scavo in Desperate Housewives, her Oscar-nominated role in Transamerica and sweet red carpet moments with husband William H. Macy.
Her role in the scandal: After a year of working with Singer legitimately to help her elder daughter, Sophia Macy, get into college, Singer suggested to the Emmy winner that she pay $15,000 to have a proctor correct the answers on Sophia’s 2017 SAT exam. The teen, who Huffman has said has a learning disability, received a score of 1420, which was 400 points higher than a PSAT she took one year earlier. Huffman, whose children were largely kept out of the spotlight, spoke with Singer about running the scam again for her younger daughter, Georgia, in 2018, but ultimately decided not to.
What did her family know? Prosecutors said Huffman’s daughter Sophia — who has gone on to study drama at Carnegie Mellon (after retaking the SAT) and act professionally — was unaware of the scam. While William H. Macy was documented in transcripts from the FBI investigation, he was never charged. He appeared by his wife’s side at her hearings.
How did her arrest play out? Huffman’s L.A. home was raided on March 12, 2019, with guns drawn on the sleeping couple and their daughters. Huffman was handcuffed and arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. She appeared in court that day looking like she had been dragged from bed. She wore black pants, a blue sweater, her glasses and a lot of shame. She was somber — and that was her vibe throughout the case.
When did she plead guilty? Less than a month later, Huffman made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty. She expressed “deep regret and shame” over what she did, saying she “betrayed” her daughter. That May, she formally entered her plea to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
How much time did she serve? In September, Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison, one year of supervised release, 250 hours of community service and a fine of $30,000. In a letter to the judge, she said she committed the crime out of “desperation to be a good mother” and to give “my daughter a fair shot.” Huffman reported to prison in October and served 11 days. Within one year, she completed her community service.
How her career was impacted: Huffman said her “old life died” after she was arrested. She’s had trouble finding work in Hollywood: She was cast in pilots that never made it to air, including a Good Doctor spin-off last year. In 2024, she made her U.K. stage debut in a revival of Taylor Mac’s Hir. Huffman has made just a handful of red carpet appearances since her arrest, all tied to charitable or empowering causes. She never resurrected her lifestyle blog, What the Flicka?, that she shut down amid the scandal.
What she’s said since: Nothing until her first interview in November 2023. Huffman recalled asking FBI agents, “‘Is this a joke?’” as they pointed guns at her in her bedroom. She talked about driving Sophia to her SAT and telling herself, “Just turn around. And to my undying shame, I didn’t.” Huffman — whose real estate holdings alone were worth $20 million — said she “felt like I had to give my daughter a chance at a future.” Huffman’s interview didn’t go over well. In February 2024, she told the Guardian life had been “hard” since her arrest and she was “still processing” what happened, but she felt fortunate “to have a family and love and means, so I had a place to land.”
Lori’s lapse: I ‘allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass’
Before her arrest: Loughlin was best known as Aunt Becky from Full House and later Fuller House.
Her role in the scandal: Loughlin and her husband Giannulli, a clothing designer, paid Singer $250,000 — twice — to secure daughters Isabella (in 2017) and Olivia Jade (in 2018) admission to USC as crew recruits, despite neither girl playing the sport. The couple staged photos of their kids on rowing equipment for fake athlete profiles that were created to pass off the girls as coxswains. Giannulli wrote in an email obtained by the FBI, that he “had to work the system” to get his daughters into USC. Giannulli went to Olivia Jade’s high school and intimidated a guidance counselor who questioned her admission to USC on athletic abilities.
What did her family know? Giannulli was also a participant. As for the couple’s daughters, they posed for the fake rowing photos and Olivia Jade, a YouTube influencer, was copied on emails between her parents and Singer. However, she “didn’t really 100 percent understand” that what her parents did was illegal, she later said.
How did Loughlin’s arrest play out? Loughlin was in Canada shooting Hallmark’s When Calls the Heart and was able to negotiate turning herself in. For her first court appearance, Loughlin was fully styled with her hair blown out — a courtroom sketch of her went viral. Meanwhile, Olivia Jade was on billionaire Rick Caruso’s yacht in the Bahamas with his daughter. Quickly, YouTube clips of Olivia Jade saying she only went to college to party surfaced.
When did she plead guilty? While Huffman almost immediately pleaded guilty, Loughlin and Giannulli proclaimed their innocence and fought the charges for over a year, making for a prolonged and messy battle. Along the way, the pair, charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, were slapped with a third charge of bribery. At each hearing, Loughlin attracted much attention, including fans with “Aunt Becky” masks. She smiled for photographers and signed autographs for fans. In May 2020, the pair flipped and pleaded guilty.
How much time did she serve? Loughlin was sentenced in August 2020. Instead of saying she shouldn’t have done it, she said she made an “awful decision” by going “along with a plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage.” She said “[I] allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass.” Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison,100 hours of community service and two years of supervised release. She was also fined $150,000. Giannulli got five months in prison, two years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and 250 hours of community service. Loughlin reported to prison in October and was released after 60 days, just after Christmas. Within two months, she had completed her community service. She also privately paid $500,000 to put two students through college.
How her career was impacted: Loughlin was immediately fired from her Hallmark projects, which included shows and a TV movie series. She was written off of Fuller House. It trickled down: Her daughters exited USC. Sephora ended a partnership with Olivia Jade. Loughlin — who moved out of her posh Bel-Air neighborhood, selling their house for $18.75 million — returned to Hallmark in 2021. She’s hit the red carpet several times since, often with Full House co-star Candace Cameron Bure.
What she’s said since: Loughlin has yet to give an interview directly addressing the scandal. In 2023, she agreed to an on-camera interview about her charity work, but only referred to a “particularly down” time in her life in which she felt “broken.” Her Full House stars have talked about her situation, including her TV husband John Stamos, who wrote in his book that when news of the admissions scandal hit, Loughlin told him she wasn’t really paying attention to it because her husband said he was handling it with his lawyers. Olivia Jade is once again making YouTube content and her mom is a frequent guest.
The college admissions scandal was turned into a Netflix documentary in 2021. Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, can still be streamed.
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