Last Tuesday, actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were charged in a college bribery scam. Both women supposedly paid thousands of dollars to guarantee their children’s acceptance into elite colleges and universities. Who would’ve thought a prestigious “Full House” star (Loughlin) would partake in bribery and cheating schemes?
Yep,you read that right – the charges don’t stop at swindling antics. Both Loughlin and Huffman participated in college entrance exam cheating scams, in which a proctor helped their daughters fudge answers ACT and SAT tests. In Hoffman’s case, the exam proctor was paid over $15,000 to correct her child’s exam, and judging by her acceptance into UCLA, it worked.
While Loughlin, Huffman and acceptance exam proctors are clearly in the wrong, athletic coaches from colleges and universities are also to blame. Staff from Stanford and Yale were supposedly implicated in the case, and have since been terminated. Both universities, as well as USC are willingly participating in the government’s investigation.
According to People magazine, Loughlin allegedly gave $500,000 to have her children designated as crew team recruits… even though they’d never joined a rowing team. USC’s head sailing coach must have accepted the bribe, as he’s no longer coaching for the university.
As for the children (now college students), Loughlin’s daughters Isabella Rose and YouTube star Olivia Jade apparently had no interest in attending college. In fact, in a recent video from Olivia, she explained how she was looking forward to the more fun aspects of college life, and planned to disregard academics.
“I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend,” she said in the video, “But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying…I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.”
However, there are serious consequences for both the parents and children involved in the scam. Last week, Olivia lost her partnerships with Tresemme and Sephora, two brands she planned to heavily advertise on social media. Loughlin was also fired from the Hallmark Channel due to these allegations, which has been her main acting gig over the past few years.
If anything, this case shows that fame and fortune can only take you so far. According to Andrew Telling, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, “There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy, and I’ll add that there will not be a separate criminal justice system either.”
Dozens of other Hollywood stars are being investigated, though their names have yet to be disclosed.