Hollywood actress, Felicity Hoffman sentenced on Friday in Boston, Massachusetts to 14 days in federal prison for her role in a college admissions conspiracy.
She was one of over 40 people involved in paying bribes to convince admissions into elite US colleges and to have been charged for crimes in connection with payments of up to $6million used to accept children into schools including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, and USC.
Felicity Huffman sentenced to 14 days in jail for her role in the college admissions cheating scandal. The popular television actress has confessed to paying $15,000 in an try to boost her eldest daughter’s SAT score.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also ordered Huffman, the former star of the popular television series “Desperate Housewives” and one-time Academy Award candidate, to pay a $30,000 fine, undergo a year of managed release and complete 250 hours of community service. 56-year-old Huffman pleaded guilty in May. She told in a declaration that she accepts the “court’s decision without reservation.”
However, the TV star and American model and actress Lori Loughlin have been just two of the high profile names involved in the case, which additionally covers other parents and athletic coaches.
As we said before, The greatest College Admission Fraud ever recorded in the US and last year the good Hollywood couple Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy made a $150,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation.
This money would help “provide educational and self-enrichment programs to disadvantaged youth.” But it soon became clear that the practice was more sophisticated than it seemed.
upon parental vulnerability, most parents have of doing nearly anything for the advantage of one’s child. All main evening news shows thought the Huffman story was so significant that they pressed it into their 30 minutes of primetime television. The anticipated narrative has been about rich privilege and entitlement when it should have been about a fair system that is failing.
Felicity Hoffman made a melancholy apology
Actress Felicity Huffman, the first parent sentenced in a wide-ranging U.S. college admissions cheating scandal, was given a 14-day prison term on Friday and made a somber apology in federal court for paying to rig her girl’s entrance exam.
“My first apology is to you,” Huffman, wearing a black dress, announced the judge quickly before being sentenced.
“I realize now as a mother that love and truth must go hand in hand, and love at the expense of truth is not real love,” the actress added. “I will deserve whatever punishment you give me.”
Huffman was freed from court after the judge ordered her to report to prison on Oct. 25. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, who had been seated in the courtroom immediately neared her after the court dismissed and covered her shoulders.
After Felicity Hoffman sentenced to 14 days in prison, she published a statement expanding on her apology.
“I especially want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices supporting their children,” Huffman said in the statement. “My hope now is that my family, my friends, and my community will forgive me for my actions,” Huffman continued.
What did Felicity Huffman exactly do?
The 56-year-old mother has been linked in the college admissions scandal since March this year when it was announced that she has been taken into custody because she and her husband William H. Macy made a purported charitable donation of $15,000 (£12,000) that authorities believe helped their eldest daughter to get into college.
Felicity’s husband was not indicted but the actress pleaded guilty in May to a charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in America and paying $15,000 (£12,000) to doctor her older daughter Sophia’s university entrance exams.
Why is Felicity Hoffman sentenced to prison?
Prosecutors in the incident wanted the Hollywood star to spend a month in prison and pay a $20,000 (£15,900) fine. They argued that jail time was crucial to set an example for other celebrities and high profile people to prove they are not beyond the law and prevent similar crimes in the future.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani told Huffman that “being a good mother doesn’t excuse this.” She also noted that Huffman did not participate in the scheme for her second daughter.
“In terms of your moving forward and rehabilitation, move forward and rebuild your life after this,” Talwani said. “You paid your dues.”
Before the sentencing, Huffman tearfully apologized to Talwani, saying she was “deeply sorry” for her actions. She also apologized directly to her daughter, Sophia.
“I can only say I’m so sorry, Sofia. I was frightened and stupid. I now see all the things I knew were wrong. I realize now that love and truth must go hand in hand. I take full responsibility for my actions,” she said.
Hoffman Requests for a discount on punishment
Felicity’s legal team asked for a year of punishment in lieu of jail time, with 250 hours of community service and a $20,000 fine. Early on Saturday, September 14 GMT, Felicity was sentenced to 14 days in prison for her involvement in the illegal scheme and will also have to pay a $30,000 (£23,800) fine, complete 250 hours of community service and be on supervised release for one year after her jail time.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen said captivity was the only way to punish a rich person like Huffman whose real currency is credit.
“In prison, there are no paparazzi. It’s the great leveler,” Rosen stated.
Huffman’s lawyer, Martin Murphy, told the actress and especially her daughter Sophia had suffered enough and urged the judge to limit the punishment to probation. In the days after Huffman’s arrest, her daughter’s top choice college rescinded its acceptance of her.
Update:
Huffman was arrested on March 12, 2019, for her involvement with a nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal, charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, and released on $250,000 bail.
Actually, Huffman, the “Desperate Housewives” star, was the first of the more than 30 parents charged in the sprawling criminal case to begin serving a prison sentence.
On May 13, Huffman pleaded guilty to federal charges for paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct SAT questions answered wrongly by her daughter. On September 13, Felicity Hoffman sentenced to 14 days in prison, a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and one year supervised release for her part in the scandal. Felicity Huffman Jail started on October 15, 2019.
Huffman reported to federal prison on October 15, according to a representative.
She was set free because of a bureau policy that allows convicts to leave before a release date that “falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, on the last preceding weekday unless it is necessary to detain the inmate for another jurisdiction seeking custody under a detainer, or for any other reason which might indicate that the inmate should not be released until the inmate’s scheduled release date,” according to the BOP.
Huffman “will begin serving the remainder of the sentence (US District) Judge (Indira) Talwani imposed — one year of supervised release, with conditions including 250 hours of community service — when she is released,” her representative responded in a statement at the start of her prison term.
Article Source: https://usdaynews.com/celebrities/why-felicia-hoffman-sentenced-to-only-14-days-in-prison/
