Getty Images | Lisa O'Connor

Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin Charged In College Admissions Cheating Scheme

Updated September 5, 2021

As many of my peers can agree, almost nothing was as important to my parents as my ability to get and maintain good grades in school. And once I got into high school, any grade that wasn't an A was considered a bad mark.

As my mom would later tell me, this strictness ensured that I would not only get into any college I wanted, but that I could study anything I wanted without obstacles once I got there.

She turned out to be right and I easily got accepted into my first choice, but a widespread case of fraud uncovered by the FBI demonstrates how valuable her methods turned out to be.

An FBI investigation code named "Operation: Varsity Blues" has uncovered a fraud scheme in which a client list of rich parents paid top dollar to get their kids into elite schools.

Reddit | D3xt3Rcz

According to NBC News, this money allegedly went to a California man named William Rick Singer, who owns a college preparation business.

All told, $25 million reportedly went to Singer between 2011 and this past February.

With this money, Singer allegedly bribed university administrators and coaches and also arranged for doctored exams that boost potential students' chances of attending prestigious schools.

Reddit | dubmachine

According to NBC News, the parents involved had their sights set on Yale, Georgetown University, UCLA, Stanford University, the University of San Diego, USC, University of Texas, and Wake Forest.

One of Singer's strategies was to arrange for a Florida man named Mark Riddell to either take tests instead of students or to replace their answers with his own.

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Parents would pay Singer between $15,000 and $75,000 per test for this service, which included substituting Riddell in for SATs and ACT exams, while Riddell would receive approximately $10,000 per test.

Prosecutors also said that Singer would use some of this cash to bribe those who administered the exams, like Igor Dvorsiky, of Los Angeles, and Lisa "Niki" Williams, of Houston.

Singer would also coach students to try and get their exam writing times extended.

Reddit | jordan460

One of his methods for doing this would involve advising them to pretend to have learning disabilities so they could get medical documents exempting them from the standard time limits.

Singer also allegedly bribed coaches and administrators to designate students as recruited athletes whether they had any relevant abilities or not.

Reddit | yerpaseestings

To make these "recruits" appear legitimate, Singer's associates would also create fake profiles that made it seem like a client's child had achieved a lot as a high school athlete.

So far, 33 of these clients have been charged, as well as nine coaches.

Getty Images | Lisa O'Connor

Among those charged are actresses Lori Loughlin from "Full House" and Felicity Huffman from "Desperate Housewives," who are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud.

The potential involvement of these two were uncovered thanks to recorded phone calls between them and a witness who cooperated with the investigation.

h/t: NBC News

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