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 The 14 are among 50 people, including wealthy parents and
college team coaches, accused by federal prosecutors in Boston
of engaging in schemes that involved cheating on college
entrance exams and paying $25 million in bribes to secure their
children admission at well-known universities.
Huffman, who starred in "Desperate Housewives," was among 33
parents charged in March with participating in the scheme in
hopes of getting their children into universities including
Yale, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
Prosecutors, as part of a plea deal, agreed to recommend a
prison term at the "low end" of the four to 10 months Huffman
faces under federal sentencing guidelines. She also agreed to
pay a $20,000 fine and restitution.
Huffman, who is married to the actor William H. Macy, in a
statement on Monday said she was "ashamed of the pain I have
caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the
educational community."
"My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my
misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her," the
former best actress Oscar nominee said.
Authorities say the scheme was overseen by California college
admissions consultant William "Rick" Singer, who has pleaded
guilty to facilitating the cheating scam and bribing coaches to
present the parents' children as fake athletic recruits.
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Prosecutors said Huffman, 56, made a $15,000 contribution to
Singer's foundation in exchange for having an associate of Singer's
in 2017 secretly correct her daughter's answers on an SAT college
entrance exam at a test center Singer controlled.
Twelve other parents have agreed to plead guilty, including
California marketing executive Jane Buckingham and Agustin Huneeus,
who owned a California wine company.
Two of the parents, including Gordon Caplan, the former co-chairman
of the law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, last week themselves
disclosed they had reached plea deals.
Two parents who agreed to plead guilty, Bruce Isackson, president of
a California real estate development firm, and his wife, Davina
Isackson, have also agreed to cooperate in the ongoing
investigation.
Additionally, Michael Center, the former head coach of men's tennis
at the University of Texas at Austin, has agreed to plead guilty to
a conspiracy charge related to bribes he accepted to designate a
child as a recruit.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Scott Malone and
Bill Berkrot)
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