Felicity Huffman, William H. Macy and Lori Loughlin headline college admissions scam

It’s not surprising Frank Gallagher would be involved, but really, Aunt Becky?

In case you were worried about running out scammer stories in 2019, NBC broke the news Tuesday morning that 44 people have been indicted in a “large-scale college entrance exam cheating scam,” with Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman headlining the celebrities charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. (Huffman’s husband, William H. Macy is also “involved.”)

Because the con included around parents getting their children recruited as athletes, a number of college coaches have been charged as well.

According to ABC, the scam “centered around a man in California who ran a business helping students get into the college of their choice.” Parents would pay this man and he would “steer the money” to either an SAT/ACT administrator or college athletic coach. The bribes ranged from “a few thousand dollars to up to 6 million.”

From there, things escalated in even more outrageous ways. Coaches would create fake profiles, sometimes photoshopping the kids’ faces onto the bodies of actual athletes.

Huffman, specifically, alleged made a $15,000 donation for her oldest daughter, considered “pursuing the scheme” a second time before “deciding not to do so.” Presumably the reason Huffman is being charged and not Macy as well is because Huffman is the one they have recorded phone calls of.

Loughlin, a.k.a. Aunt Becky, apparently paid a total of $500,000 in exchange for having their daughters designated as crew recruits to USC, as evidence in emails from Loughlin.

If you want to get into it, the 200-page charging documents have been unsealed. The highlights are circulating on Twitter.