Amid Modest Sentences, Prosecutors Bring New Charges in Admissions Scandal
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — As Felicity Huffman, the actress and parent who pleaded guilty in the sprawling college admissions scandal, neared the end of a two-week prison camp sentence, prosecutors on Tuesday pressed new charges against other parents, including the actress Lori Loughlin, who have fought the cases against them.
Marking an aggressive new posture in the case, prosecutors filed bribery charges against Ms. Loughlin and 10 other parents who had pleaded not guilty to earlier fraud and money laundering counts. The prosecutors also brought new fraud charges against several parents, and an array of new charges against coaches and others charged in the scheme.
Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the new charges. But lawyers involved in the case said prosecutors were motivated in part by frustration with the sentences already given out in a scandal that has swept up an array of prominent parents accused of paying to cheat on college admissions tests or to bribe college coaches.
After the authorities revealed the scandal in March, Ms. Huffman and roughly a dozen other parents quickly pleaded guilty. Their sentences, all less than what prosecutors had sought, have ranged from probation to five months in prison. Ms. Huffman, who acknowledged paying $15,000 to cheat on her daughter’s SAT, is scheduled to finish her prison camp sentence on Sunday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/lori-loughlin-bribery-charge.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur