Felicity Huffman has been sentenced to serve two weeks in jail for her part in the U.S. college admissions scandal.
Prosecutors recommended the Desperate Housewives star should spend a month behind bars after pleading guilty to bribing education officials in an effort to secure a top university spot for her eldest daughter, but she’ll serve half that time.
Six months after she was arrested, Huffman learned her fate in a federal courtroom in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday (September 13, 2019), and will serve 14 days behind bars. She will also have to pay a $30,000 fine, complete 250 hours of community service and she will be on probation for one year following her release from jail.
Just before sentencing was announced, the actress, who was joined in court by her husband, William H. Macy, and her lawyer, Martin Murphy, told Judge Indira Talwani, “I am deeply sorry to the students, parents, colleges and universities that have been deeply impacted by my actions… I will deserve whatever punishment you give me.”
She also apologized to her husband and the couple’s two daughters for the embarrassment her actions had caused them.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen previously urged the judge to jail Felicity, stating, “There is simply no excuse for what she did… Imprisonment is needed because this was a considered, deliberate, and purposeful criminal act.”
Her legal team called for “a sentence of probation”.
Huffman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in May, and she now becomes the first of more than 30 parents indicted in the college bribery scam.
Full House star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli have also been accused of bribing college officials to get their daughters into the University of Southern California (USC), but they rejected a plea deal from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts.
