Thirteen parents and one coach charged in the college admissions scandal will plead guilty, federal prosecutors announced Monday. One of the parents is Felicity Huffman, the actress who is among the best-known of the wealthy individuals arrested in the cheating case that broke last month.

The 14 defendants were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. They have agreed to plead guilty in accordance with plea agreements.

Authorities charged 50 people in the scheme: parents allegedly paid millions of dollars to have their children's test scores and athletic achievements falsified to get them into elite colleges such as Yale University and the University of Southern California.

At least two of those colleges, Yale and Stanford University, have since revoked their offers of admission to students involved in the case.

Prosecutors say that plea hearings in the case have not yet been scheduled. </s> On Wednesday, the Stanford sailing coach who pleaded guilty and was fired for his role in the massive, nationwide college admissions cheating scandal will become the first of the 50 counselors, coaches and parents charged in the scheme to be sentenced.

And with the country captivated by a case that has left many seething at how Hollywood celebrities and Silicon Valley executives allegedly bribed their kids into elite colleges, the burning question will be whether John Vandemoer gets sentenced to prison or, as his lawyer argues, just probation.

A former federal prosecutor who has closely followed the case said it’s hard to imagine that the former coach will get no prison time for his involvement in the scandal that involved bribes to athletic coaches and test administrators masterminded by a California college admissions consultant to secure enrollment to USC, Georgetown, Yale and other selective schools.

“The judge in this case wants to send a powerful message to would-be cheaters — you’re going to pay the piper,” said Manny Medrano, a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles who specializes in white collar criminal defense.

“I firmly believe he’s going to federal prison. If the judge grants probation to this defendant, the judge is setting the wrong example and tone for the rest of the case.”

Vandemoer pleaded guilty on March 12 to conspiracy to commit racketeering, the day federal prosecutors announced the Operation Varsity Blues case, along with the scheme’s mastermind, William “Rick” Singer, who is not scheduled to be sentenced until September. Medrano said the order in which defendants are sentenced largely reflects their attorneys’ schedules. Among those charged were 33 parents, including Hollywood actresses Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty, and Lori Loughlin, who is contesting the charges.

Prosecutors in Boston, where the case was filed, in a sentencing memorandum recommend that Vandemoer be sentenced to 13 months in prison and a year of supervised release for his role in the conspiracy. They noted that is less than the 18 months and year of supervised release Vandemoer could have faced under his plea agreement and well short of the 37 to 46 months they say he could face under sentencing guidelines.

“Over the course of approximately two years, the defendant — the former head sailing coach

 at Stanford University — participated in a sweeping bribery, fraud and money laundering scheme

 that helped secure the admission of students to elite universities over other, more qualified applicants,” prosecutors wrote. “His actions not only deceived and defrauded the university that employed him, but also validated a national cynicism over college admissions by helping wealthy and unscrupulous applicants enjoy an unjust advantage over those who either lack deep pockets or are simply unwilling to cheat to get ahead.”

But Vandemoer’s lawyer, Robert Fisher, argues in a sentencing memorandum that the former coach should receive no prison time and only a probationary sentence. He notes that unlike other coaches caught up in the caper, Vandemoer did not personally receive payment as part of the scheme or secure a student’s fraudulent admission.

Vandemoer steered a total of $770,000 from Singer to Stanford’s sailing program, for which he agreed to recommend enrollment for students with little or no boating experience as recruits to his team.

That included payments of $110,000 and $160,000 on behalf of two students who chose to enroll at other universities before Vandemoer could recommend them as recruits. It also included $500,000 associated with a third student, the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family who reportedly paid Singer $6.5 million to secure her admission to Stanford.

Vandemoer didn’t recommend that student for enrollment as a sailing recruit due to the timing of her application. But she was admitted anyway based in part on an application Singer prepared that included fraudulent sailing credentials. She has since been expelled.

“Mr. Vandemoer failed in one instance to live up to the high expectations he sets for himself,” Fisher wrote in a memorandum to the court. “He fully accepts responsibility for his mistake. Mr. Vandemoer is determined to make amends for this mistake, move on with his life, and continue to provide for his family.”

More than two dozen people — his wife, assistant coach, and former sailors and their parents — wrote letters on Vandemoer’s behalf urging leniency.

His wife, Molly, wrote that she wasn’t angry with her husband of 11 years over the crime that has upended their lives and those of their two children, ages 3 and 1.

“I know he made a mistake,” Molly Vandemoer wrote. “I know it is extremely costly to his livelihood, to our family, etc. But I know he will never do something like this again. I know he will continue to be an upstanding member of society, and I know he will always be the loving, patient, and hard working man I met 13 years ago.”

His assistant and now interim coach, Clinton Hayes, wrote that Vandemoer “truly cared that every one of

 our student athletes left Stanford a better person and productive member of society.” Former sailor Samantha Steele, who graduated in 2016, wrote that “integrity always mattered to John.”

Prosecutors, however, wrote that they already took those factors into account in recommending Vandemoer serve 13 months in prison and bristled at the suggestion that he didn’t benefit from involvement in the scheme and urged a “meaningful term of incarceration.”

“He funneled the criminal proceeds to accounts he controlled for the university sailing program,” prosecutors wrote. “He secretly sold recruitment slots in exchange for payments that were used to benefit the sailing program he ran, and so enhanced his own career prospects.”

Stanford, in a “victim impact statement” submitted to the court, took no position regarding any particular sentence but said Vandemoer’s actions “undermined public confidence in the college admissions system and reflected negatively on Stanford and its hard-working, honest student athletes.”

The university said in an updated statement that it is “working to review, and strengthen wherever necessary, its policies and processes” and is “committed to learning from this deeply unfortunate episode and ensuring the integrity of our programs going forward.”

Stanford said in the impact statement that the university “does not wish to benefit in any way from Mr. Vandemoer’s conduct” and is in discussions with the California attorney general about “an appropriate way for those funds to be used for the public good.”

Former prosecutor Medrano said that with so many of the accused fighting the charges, there is pressure on the court not to signal that they have little to lose by handing down a light sentence. Of the 50 charged, 21 have pleaded or agreed to plead guilty.

“The judge has to set an example for other defendants in this case,” Medrano said. “If he gives a light sentence to someone who pleaded guilty, others will fight this because at the end of the day, they know it’ll be a light sentence.” </s> Thirteen parents and one coach charged in the college admissions scandal will plead guilty, federal prosecutors announced Monday. One of the parents is Felicity Huffman, the actress who is among the best-known of the wealthy individuals arrested in the cheating case that broke last month.

The 14 defendants were all charged conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. They have agreed to plead guilty in accordance with plea agreements.

Authorities charged 50 people in the scheme: parents allegedly paid millions of dollars in a conspiracy with William "Rick" Singer to to have their children's test scores and athletic achievements falsified, in order to secure admission into elite colleges.

At least two of those colleges, Yale University and Stanford University, have since revoked their offers of admission to students involved in the case.

Michael Center, 54, the former head men's tennis coach at the University of Texas at Austin, is among those slated to plead guilty. Prosecutors say he accepted $60,000 in cash from Singer, as well as $40,000 earmarked for the University of Texas tennis program, in exchange for designating one of Singer's clients as a tennis recruit.

The Department of Justice says 11 of the defendants will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud:
• Gregory Abbott, 68, of New York, N.Y., together with his wife, Marcia, agreed to pay Singer $125,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for their daughter;
• Jane Buckingham, 50, of Beverly Hills, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $50,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for her son;
• Gordon Caplan, 52, of Greenwich, Conn., agreed to pay Singer $75,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for his daughter;
• Robert Flaxman, 62, of Laguna Beach, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $75,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for his daughter;
• Felicity Huffman, 56, of Los Angeles, Calif., agreed to pay Singer at least $15,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for her oldest daughter;
• Agustin Huneeus Jr., 53, of San Francisco, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $300,000 to participate in both the college entrance exam cheating scheme and the college recruitment scheme for his daughter;
• Marjorie Klapper, 50, of Menlo Park, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $15,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for her son;
• Peter Jan Sartorio, 53, of Menlo Park, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $15,000 to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme for his daughter;
• Stephen Semprevivo, 53, of Los Angeles, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $400,000 to participate in the college recruitment scheme for his son; and
• Devin Sloane, 53, of Los Angeles, Calif., agreed to pay Singer $250,000 to participate in the college recruitment scheme for his son.

Two other defendants, Bruce Isackson, 61, and Davina Isackson, 55, of Hillsborough, Calif., will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Bruce Isackson will also plead guilty to a count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS. The Isacksons allegedly paid Singer $600,000 in schemes for both of their daughters, and then deducted the bribes as charitable donations.

While the mail fraud charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or more, the plea deals make clear that the defendants are unlikely to face penalties so severe.

In Huffman's case, prosecutors recommended incarceration at the "low end" of the sentencing guidelines, a $20,000 fine, 12 months' probation, and restitution in an amount to be determined.

The court is not required to follow the calculations laid out in the deal, and the plea agreement dictates that Huffman may not withdraw her guilty plea if she disagrees with the court's ultimate calculations or sentence.

Huffman released a statement of apology on Monday to outlets including the Los Angeles Times, in which she says she is "ashamed" of the pain she caused her daughter and others:

"I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions. "I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly. "My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty."

Plea hearings in the case have not yet been scheduled. The defendants who improperly took tax deductions for the bribes they paid have agreed to cooperate with the IRS to pay back taxes, prosecutors say. </s> Actress Felicity Huffman is joining 13 other defendants in the college admissions scandal who are pleading guilty, according to the Department of Justice.

Huffman, a star on ABC’s Desperate Housewives and the wife of Shameless star William H. Macy admitted to paying $15,000 to get her older daughter unlimited time for her SAT test and to have a proctor administer the test and correct the answers.

Macy was not charged in the FBI Investigation.

“I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community,” Huffman said in a statement. “I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly.”

While revealing that her daughter knew “absolutely nothing” about the deal she made with scheme organizer William Rick Singer, Huffman added, “This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life.”

Singer pleaded guilty last month to charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice. Huffman agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

The max sentence for those charges? 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release and fines.

RELATED: Girl, Bye: Felicity Huffman’s Shame Is ‘Unfathomable’ After Trying To Get Her Mediocre Kid Into College

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Felicity Huffman, 13 Others To Plead Guilty In College Admissions Scandal was originally published on myhoustonmajic.com

Also On 101.1 The Wiz: </s> Felicity Huffman said Monday in a statement she is pleading guilty after being charged in the college admissions scandal, saying she has “deep regret and shame” over what she has done.

The former “Desperate Housewives” star admitted she paid at least $15,000 to arrange for a proctor to change answers on her eldest daughter’s SAT.

“I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney's Office,” Huffman, 56, said in her statement.

“I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions.

“I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community,” Huffman continued. “I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly.

“My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty.”

Huffman, who appeared in a Boston court last Wednesday in connection with the scandal, agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to the Department of Justice. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and fines. However, it is not likely Huffman will spend nearly that much time in prison, since no other charges were committed with the fraud and no violent crime was involved.

The actress is one of 14 defendants who have agreed to plead guilty, the Department of Justice said.

Dozens of parents were charged in the scheme, including “Fuller House” star Lori Loughlin. Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as elite rowers, even though neither had ever participated in the sport.

The organizer of the scheme, William Rick Singer, pleaded guilty last month to charges of racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. </s> The Justice Department on Tuesday charged 50 people - including two television stars - with participating in a multimillion dollar bribery scheme that enabled privileged students with lackluster grades to attend prestigious colleges and universities.

The alleged crimes included cheating on entrance exams and bribing college officials to say certain students were athletic recruits when those students were not in fact athletes, officials said. Numerous schools were targeted, including Georgetown University, Yale University, Stanford University, the University of Texas, the University of Southern California and UCLA, among others.

Boston's US. attorney, Andrew Lelling, called it the largest-ever college admissions scam prosecuted by the Justice Department. Of the 50 people charged in the FBI's Operation Varsity Blues, 33 were parents, officials said, warning that the investigation is ongoing and that others could be charged.

The scheme was discovered accidentally by the FBI while working an unrelated undercover operation about a year ago, officials said. That tip led to a sprawling, nationwide corruption probe.

"These parents are a catalogue of wealth and privilege," said Lelling. "This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud. There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I'll add there will not be a separate criminal justice system, either."

No students were charged because prosecutors said their parents were the scheme's principal actors.

Court filings released Tuesday paint an ugly picture of privileged parents committing crimes to get their children into selective schools otherwise unlikely to accept them.

Among those charged are actresses Felicity Huffman, best known for her role on the television show "Desperate Housewives," and Lori Loughlin, who appeared on "Full House." A representative for Loughlin declined to comment. A representative for Huffman did not return messages seeking comment.

Others arrested Tuesday include a private equity executive in northern California, a senior lawyer at a major law firm in New York, and a public relations executive in Los Angeles. Prosecutors said they took part in a criminal conspiracy to bribe test officials and college sports officials.

In the wake of the charges, universities began firing or placing on leave some of the accused coaches.

The scheme's chief architect, William Singer, pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday. Officials described Singer as a well-connected college admissions adviser, and say he disguised the bribery scheme as a charity, enabling parents to deduct the bribes from their taxes.

Singer was charged with taking about $25 million from 2011 to 2018 - paying some of it to college coaches or standardized-testing officials for their help rigging the admissions process and pocketing the rest, according to the criminal complaint. He allegedly disguised the money using a nonprofit, the Key Worldwide Foundation, which prosecutors described as a slush fund for bribes.

Singer pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy charges for racketeering, money laundering and obstruction of justice. He had been cooperating since September. Prosecutors said that a month after he came to the government's side, Singer alerted several people under investigation about the inquiry - which earned him the obstruction charge. Lawyers for Singer did not respond to requests for comment.

Another defendant is Gordon Caplan, co-chairman of the prestigious international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Caplan did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did his firm.

Court papers charge that in one secretly recorded conversation, Caplan asked Singer: "If somebody catches this, what happens?"

"The only one who can catch it is if you guys tell somebody," Singer replied.

"I'm not going to tell anybody," Caplan said, and the two men laughed, according to the court papers.

Two California parents paid Singer in the form of Facebook stock - 2,150 shares worth $251,159 at the time of the bribe in July 2016, according to court papers. Those parents claimed that payment as a charitable donation, the papers said.

Early in the investigation, the FBI was able to flip Yale's former women's soccer coach, who provided evidence against others, officials said. Rudolph Meredith pleaded guilty nearly a year ago, after prosecutors gathered evidence he took a $400,000 bribe to pretend that one prospective student was a recruit, despite the fact that the student in question did not play competitive soccer. The student's parents paid $1.2 million in bribes, officials said.

Yale's president, Peter Salovey, sent a letter to the Yale community calling the allegations "an affront to our university's deeply held values of inclusion and fairness. I want to assure our community," it says, "that I am committed to making certain the integrity of the admissions and athletic recruitment processes is not undermined again. As the investigation unfolds, the university may take further actions."

Prosecutors also charged Georgetown's former head tennis coach, Gordon Ernst. Authorities said he made $950,000 promoting several students as potential tennis recruits - when they were not tennis players of that caliber.

For example, prosecutors alleged, Ernst flagged a California couple's daughter as a "potential spot," and her application falsely indicated she had played club tennis through high school and achieved a Top 50 ranking in the U.S. Tennis Association's junior girls category from her sophomore through her senior years. In fact, she had not played at any Tennis Association tournaments in high school, officials said.

"At her best," prosecutors wrote, "she appears to have ranked 207th in Northern California in the under-12 girls division, with an overall win/loss record of 2-8."

In a statement, Georgetown said the school was "deeply disappointed" to learn of the criminal charges against Ernst, and said he "has not coached our tennis team since December 2017, following an internal investigation that found he had violated University rules concerning admissions. Georgetown cooperated fully with the government's investigation."

After leaving Georgetown, Ernst was hired as the University of Rhode Island's tennis coach. The school said Tuesday he had been placed on administrative leave.

Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so their two daughters would be designated as recruits for the University of Southern California crew team - even though they were not part of the team. That helped the pair get into USC, according to the complaint.

Some of the money was directed to Donna Heinel, a USC athletics official, the complaint alleges. In a statement, USC officials said the school is cooperating with the federal investigation and has launched its own review.

Jovan Vavic, the former water polo coach at USC, was charged with taking bribes to pretend students flagged by Singer were recruits for the team. Prosecutors alleged Singer paid private school tuition payments for Vavic's children, under the guide of a fabricated scholarship. Vavic did not return an email seeking comment.

USC said Tuesday that Heinel and Vavic had been fired.

"We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university," the statement says. "USC is conducting an internal investigation and will take employment actions as appropriate . . . the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward."

Besides fake athletic credentials, the other main thrust of Singer's schemes involved cheating on college entrance exams. Sometimes, that was done by paying a 36-year-old Florida man, Mark Riddell, to take the tests for students. Riddell was so proficient at the exams that he could get a perfect score, or calibrate his answers to get very high marks, but not a perfect score, the U.S. attorney said. Riddell also agreed to plead guilty in the case and cooperate with investigators, according to officials. Riddell did not immediately return messages, and no attorney was listed for him in court records.

Other defendants are accused of bribing college entrance exam administrators to facilitate cheating - in some cases, providing students with answers to exams or correcting their answers after they had completed the exams, according to the criminal complaint filed in federal court.

Prosecutors said a key element of the test-cheating scheme was to make arrangements for the tests to be administered privately over a two-day period, making it easier for Riddell stand in for the students, or for a corrupt test administrator to fix the answers.

Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 - disguised as a charitable donation - to the Key Worldwide Foundation so her oldest daughter could participate in the scam. A confidential informant told investigators that he advised Huffman he could arrange for a third party to correct her daughter's answers on the SAT after she took it. She ended up scoring a 1420 - 400 points higher than she had gotten on a PSAT taken a year earlier, according to court documents.

Huffman also contemplated running a similar scam to help her younger daughter but ultimately did not pursue it, the complaint alleges.

Other defendants include William McGlashan, a senior executive at a global private equity firm, TPG Growth, which is a major investor in the ride-share service Uber and the music-streaming app Spotify.

A TPG spokesman said "as a result of the charges of personal misconduct against Bill McGlashan," he has been placed on "indefinite administrative leave effective immediately."

According to the criminal charges against McGlashan, he and Singer agreed to trick admissions officials at USC into believing McGlashan's son was a kicker for a football team - even though his high school didn't have a football team. Singer offered to edit an image of the child's head onto a photo of a football kicker, officials alleged. As they discussed it, McGlashan said the situation was "pretty funny," court documents say. "The way the world works these days is unbelievable." </s> 56-year-old actress entered plea Monday to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, honest services mail fraud

Felicity Huffman arrives at federal court Monday, May 13, 2019, in Boston, where she is scheduled to plead guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

The Latest on the plea of actress Felicity Huffman in the college admissions bribery scheme (all times local):

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman has pleaded guilty to participating in the college admissions cheating scheme.

The 56-year-old actress entered the plea Monday to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Huffman stood with her hands clasped in front of her and responded, “Yes, your honour,” when asked whether she understood the charges. Her brother watched from the front row. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, didn’t attend.

Sentencing is set for Sept. 13. Prosecutors said they would recommend four months in prison.

She was arrested in March along with dozens of other prominent parents, athletic coaches and others implicated in the scandal. She was charged with paying $15,000 to have a proctor boost her older daughter’s SAT score.

She has apologized and says she will accept the consequences.

A California businessman has pleaded guilty to paying $250,000 in bribes to get his son into the University of Southern California as a fake water polo recruit.

Devin Sloane entered his plea Monday in Boston federal court. He is among 14 parents who have agreed to plead guilty to charges in the sweeping college admissions scandal.

Authorities say Sloane gave $250,000 to an admissions consultant’s sham charity and the USC women’s athletic program and to have his son designated as a water polo recruit even though he didn’t play the sport.

Officials say Sloane bought athletic gear online and worked with a graphic designer to create a bogus photo of his son playing the sport for the teen’s application.

Actress Felicity Huffman was also scheduled to plead guilty Monday.

“Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman has arrived at federal court in Boston, where she is set to plead guilty in the college admissions cheating scheme.

The 56-year-old actress didn’t speak as she walked into the courthouse Monday with her brother Moore Huffman Jr.

Huffman is expected to admit to allegations that she paid $15,000 to have someone correct the answers on her daughter’s SAT.

She is among 14 prominent parents who have agreed to plead guilty since dozens of people were arrested in March in the case named “Operation Varsity Blues.”

Huffman has apologized and said her daughter was unaware of her actions.

Prosecutors have said they will seek a prison sentence on the low end of a range between four and 10 months.

Actress Felicity Huffman is set to plead guilty to participating in the sweeping college admissions bribery scheme.

The “Desperate Housewives” star is scheduled to appear Monday in Boston federal court.

Huffman was among 50 people charged in March in what authorities have called the largest college admissions cheating scandal ever prosecuted in the U.S.

The Emmy-award winning actress was accused of paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct the answers on daughter’s SAT exam.

Huffman has said she takes full responsibility and will accept the consequences.

Prosecutors say they will seek between four and 10 months in prison.

Thirteen other parents have also agreed to plead guilty.

Parents still fighting the charges include fellow actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. </s> Fifty people were charged Tuesday in a scheme in which wealthy parents allegedly bribed college coaches and other insiders to get their children into some of the nation's most elite universities.

According to federal prosecutors, here is how the college admissions bribery scheme worked:

Parents of prospective students conspired with a college entrance consultant to beat the system and ensure their students were admitted or had a better chance to be admitted to certain colleges or universities, including Yale, Stanford, Texas, UCLA, USC, Wake Forest and others.

Prosecutors allege several methods were used including:

— Bribing those administering college entrance exams to provide answers, change answers or allow someone other than the student to take the exam and centers "controlled" by the consultant. Often students were told to declare a disability that would require they be given extra time, often a second day, to complete the exams.

— Bribing college coaches or athletic administrators to make it appear the students were athletes being recruited to the school, including creating fake athletic credentials.

— Having someone take classes in the place of a student and using those grades on applications.

— Between 2011-2018 prosecutors allege parents paid the consultant $25 million to bribe coaches and college administrators to designate their children as student athletes or member of other groups given favored admission status. Prosecutors say payments were often disguised as charitable donations that were then funneled to the coaches and administrators.

— Prosecutors say the consultant represented to parents that the scheme had worked successfully more than 800 times.

— The consultant, William "Rick" Singer of Newport Beach, California pleaded guilty in Boston federal court on Tuesday to charges including racketeering conspiracy and obstruction of justice .

William 'Rick' Singer founder of the Edge College & Career Network, departs federal court in Boston on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, after he pleaded guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.

— Nine coaches are accused, including former Yale women's soccer coach Rudy Meredith; UCLA soccer coach Jorge Salcedo, Wake Forest volleyball coach Bill Ferguson and Stanford sailing coach John Vandemoer.

John Vandemoer, former head sailing coach at Stanford, arrives at federal court in Boston on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, where he plead guilty to charges in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal.

— More than 30 parents are accused of paying bribes, including well-known actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli.

This combination photo shows actress Lori Loughlin at the Women's Cancer Research Fund's An Unforgettable Evening event in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2018, left, and actress Felicity Huffman at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2018. Loughlin and Huffman are among at least 40 people indicted in a sweeping college admissions bribery scandal. Both were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in indictments unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Boston. (AP Photo)

— No students were charged, prosecutors said they were often unaware of the measures being taken on their behalf. </s> Stunning details continue to emerge in an alleged multi-million-dollar bribery plot that, just a day after exploding into public view, has exposed what federal prosecutors describe as a corrupt exchange of wealth, fame and influence for admissions to the nation’s most elite universities.

Fifty people — from Hollywood stars and top industry CEOs to college coaches and standardized test administrators — stand accused of participating in a scheme to cheat on admissions tests and admit to students to leading institutions as athletes regardless of their abilities, prosecutors revealed Tuesday in a federal indictment. The scandal is being called the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted.

As the alleged culprits, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, position their defenses, the fallout continues for players across this wide-ranging case, which spans six states and raises seminal questions about how level the post-secondary playing field really is.

Still hanging in the balance is the fate of the privileged scholars, at least some of whom may not have known about their parents’ alleged acts. It was no accident that none were immediately charged, US Attorney Andrew Lelling of Massachusetts said Tuesday.

“The prime movers of this fraud” were the parents and other defendants, Lelling said, though he noted some students may face charges down the road.

Meantime, officials at universities including Yale, Stanford and Georgetown must now examine criminal claims made against key staffers, some of whom already have part ways.

Perhaps most critically, they’ll also have to answer for whether qualified students were denied entry into their programs in lieu of the children of the rich and famous.

“For every student admitted through fraud,” Lelling said, “an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected.”

Parents spent up to $6.5 million, the FBI says

The sums that authorities say the accused parents paid in bribes would, for many, finance a college education many times over.

Some spent between $200,000 and $6.5 million to guarantee admissions for their children, FBI Special Agent Joseph Bonavolonta said.

The relatives of one applicant paid $1.2 million to have the applicant falsely described as the co-captain of a well-known California soccer team, although the applicant did not play competitive soccer, prosecutors said.

By comparison, the average annual cost of tuition and fees at a private, four-year college is $29,478, the US Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics’ most recent report shows.

“This case is about the widening corruption of elite college admissions through the steady application of wealth combined with fraud,” Lelling said. “There can be no separate college admission system for the wealthy, and I’ll add that there will not be a separate criminal justice system either.”

The ringleader got $25 million, US attorney says

Much of the indictment revolves around William Rick Singer, the founder of a for-profit college counseling and preparation business known as The Key.

“OK, so, who we are … what we do is we help the wealthiest families in the US get their kids into school,” Singer told one parent, according to prosecutors.

There were dual avenues for carrying out the scheme, Lelling explained.

“There were essentially two kinds of fraud that Singer was selling,” Lelling said of the accusations, which run from 2011 to 2019. “One was to cheat on the SAT or ACT, and the other was to use his connections with Division I coaches and use bribes to get these parents’ kids into school with fake athletic credentials.”

For example, Singer and his co-conspirators used photo-editing technology to superimpose the face of a patron’s student onto stock photos of athletes, prosecutors said.

Singer was paid roughly $25 million by parents to help their children get in to schools, the US attorney said.

Singer pleaded guilty on Tuesday to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice, prosecutors said.

Best known for her role on TV’s “Desperate Housewives,” Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 to Singer’s fake charity, the Key Worldwide Foundation, to facilitate cheating for her daughter on the SATs, the complaint says.

Her daughter received a 1420 on her test, which was 400 points higher than a PSAT taken a year earlier without the same administrator, the complaint states.

Huffman also discussed the scheme in a recorded phone call with a cooperating witness, the complaint says.

Huffman has been charged with felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, according to federal court documents filed Monday in Massachusetts. She was arrested without incident at her California home, the FBI said.

She appeared Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles, where a judge set her bond at $250,000 and federal agents took her passport. Her next court appearance was set for March 29 in Boston.

Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on “Full House,” faces the same felony charge. Her husband, Giannulli, was also charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

Loughlin and Giannulli allegedly agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, even though they did not participate in crew, the complaint said.

The money was given to Singer’s fake charity, and in a recorded phone call, Singer clarified that the money was actually intended for getting their daughters into USC crew, according to the complaint.

Giannulli appeared in court Tuesday, where a magistrate judge set a $1 million bond and ordered him to surrender his passport.

Though she was not present in court, prosecutors and Loughlin’s attorneys agreed on similar terms, as well as permission for her to travel to Vancouver and back for work.

CNN has contacted Iconix Brand Group, which owns Giannulli’s namesake fashion company, Mossimo. CNN also is seeking comment from the actresses’ representatives.

Coaches from Yale, Stanford, Wake Forest and Georgetown universities and USC, among others, are implicated in the case.

“The Department of Justice believes that Yale has been the victim of a crime perpetrated by a former coach who no longer works at the university,” Yale’s president said in a statement. “The corrupt behavior alleged by the Department of Justice is an affront to our university’s deeply held values of inclusion and fairness.”

The Georgetown coach who was arrested “has not coached our tennis team since December 2017, when he was placed on leave after the Office of Undergraduate Admissions identified irregularities in his recruitment practices and the University initiated an internal investigation,” a university spokeswoman said in a statement.

USC is reviewing the school’s application process, officials said.
16 people are indicted on new charges in the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal, one day after it was announced that 13 of the defendants charged in the case would plead guilty for conspiracy.