Wait, why wasn’t William H. Macy arrested in the SAT-test scheme again?

76th Annual Golden Globe awards

While Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade was spon-conning and yachting her scammy college days away, we really don’t know the extent of Felicity Huffman and William H.Macy’s kids involvement in the college admission scheme. We know that Felicity – and to a lesser extent, Macy – paid $15K to arrange for someone else to boost their daughter’s SAT scores. It’s clear from the indictment that Macy had a general awareness of what was happening, but I’ve yet to see a clear reason for why Macy wasn’t arrested and charged alongside his wife and Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli.

In the indictment alleging that actress Felicity Huffman participated in a sprawling college admissions scandal with the intent to benefit her college-bound daughter, one name is prominently absent: her husband, actor William H. Macy. The Shameless star, 69, is instead identified only as “her spouse” in the document alleging that Huffman engaged in a scheme to donate $15,000 to a company in exchange for its help to fraudulently boost their daughter’s SAT scores, according to the indictment obtained by PEOPLE.

Specifically, authorities and the charging document allege that Huffman and Macy aligned with William Singer, a “cooperating witness” in the investigation who runs a college preparatory business and started the Key Worldwide Foundation that accepted the couple’s $15,000 donation. Singer, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the scandal, met with the couple in their Los Angeles home and allegedly told them a proctor could boost their daughter’s SAT results by secretly correcting any incorrect test answers. According to the indictment, Singer “advised investigators that Huffman and her spouse agreed to the plan.”

Huffman and Macy allegedly discussed with Singer a similar scenario to involve their younger daughter, according to conversations excerpted in the indictment, but backed off and decided she should take the test first to see how well she did. Emails and recorded conversations cited in the indictment show that Macy participated only in conversations about the second daughter, and not in the plan that was carried out, perhaps explaining the lack of evidence required for a criminal charge.

[From People]

They’re saying two different things – Singer met with both Huffman and Macy about their older daughter’s SAT scores and Macy was there for the discussion. Then Macy also had awareness of the planned – but never initiated – scheme to boost the younger daughter’s scores too. Just my opinion, but there probably is enough evidence to arrest Macy and I don’t know why they avoided it, really.

Also: playwright/director/screenwriter David Mamet wrote an open letter defending Felicity and William H. Macy, both of whom Mamet has known for years and years. He makes this argument: “That a parent’s zeal for her children’s future may have overcome her better judgment for a moment is not only unfortunate, it is, I know we parents would agree, a universal phenomenon.” Nah, dude. Lots of parents have zeal about their kids’ future, but I would hope that most parents recognize the inherent stupidity (not to mention illegality) of spending thousands of dollars to game the system just so your stupid kids don’t have to actually do the work of getting into college on their own merits. That being said, Mamet makes one good point about how there really isn’t some big ethical or moral difference between “legacy students whose parents donated a building” versus “students who are there because their parents bribed various officials.” Both options are bribes, and only one of them is illegal.

Jennifer Garner honoured at The Rape Foundation Annual Brunch in Los Angeles

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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190 Responses to “Wait, why wasn’t William H. Macy arrested in the SAT-test scheme again?”

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  1. Shrute’s beet farm says:

    I mean…is it possible an indictment wasn’t returned on Macy due to lack of evidence? Like, the feds tried to make a case and it didn’t work out?

    • lucy2 says:

      That’s what I’m figuring – had there been evidence on him too, he’d be indicted too.

    • jan90067 says:

      A little fun fact (I posted further down the post) about Mamet and Macy: The are “founders” of The Atlantic Acting School, one of the four Studios for acting classes at NYU/Tisch. FOUNDERS. This is Studio my older nephew had to do two auditions for (one video/one in person), score 32 on his ACT, have a GPA of 4.85 from all AP high school classes, and do a sh!tload of extra-curriculars to get into. Somehow, I don’t think M & M would be taking bribes to allow students into THEIR Studio.

      • CA Family Code says:

        THIS is INFURIATING effing, bloody hypocrites. Ass#*@es. My darling daughter worked soooo hard to get into UC Santa Cruz, a school these people would likely deem a peon school…but it is in the middle of a redwood forest and was the most enriching experience a young person could have. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology. She wen to SAMOHI in Santa Monica surrounded by rich, privileged brats and I remember her saying, “‘Becky’ is so dumb mom…she got horrible grades and cut school all the time and she’s going to USC.” And I said…no doubt her parents bought her way in. My daughter’s accomplishments are virtuous and I am proud. Is it at all the same when you skip the hard work? It can’t feel the same and clearly these kids aren’t doing advanced calculus and mathematical physics

      • AJ says:

        Why do you need such a high GPA if you are going to acting school? That seems crazy.

      • jan90067 says:

        AJ, there are also academic classes that are mandatory, to make sure they will get an all around education! Actors need an education to make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of (economically, legally, morally in all contracts & dealings), they need to be well-read to be able to draw on knowledge on how to analyze their character’s motivation, etc. As I have found out, actors are much more than just people who can memorize a script. When he graduates, he will do so with a BFA degree. Here’s some info about it: https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/about-tisch

    • Dutch says:

      I’m willing to bet Felicity stroked the check, which is pretty hard evidence. You could probably nail Macy with a conspiracy charge, but is small potatoes given the massive scale of the wrongdoing.

      • holly hobby says:

        Yes I read that Felicity wrote the check and they also have emails between her and the faux company. They do not have a paper trail on Macy. Govt pretty much indicts on a sure thing. Macy, at best, is 50/50.

    • Mari says:

      @ CA Family Code, your daughter sounds like a treasure who was raised right. My sons, who worked their butts off to do so, got into their first choice school on their merits, and we’re mighty proud, too. Like your daughter, they went to school with a lot of privileged kids. I would consider my own kids privileged, TBH, but they were raised with good values. If it makes you feel any better, we know of a family who gave a big bucks donation to the same school in hopes of getting their snookums in, and the school denied admission. Guess the school thought it was no strings… 😀

  2. Meganbot2000 says:

    Presumably if FH was the one sending all the emails they just don’t have any solid evidence to be able to charge Macy.

    • jan90067 says:

      I thought they had Macy’s voice in a phone call…?

      Regardless, the cheating was bad enough, but then to try and deduct the amount spent on the cheating off your taxes??? Truly one of the definitions of “chutzpah” (Yiddish for unmitigated gall).

      When I was struggling with the math portion of the PSAT, my parents got me a tutor, so when I took the SAT, while my math portion wasn’t stellar, it wasn’t too bad (thank God, I did spectacularly on the Reading, Writing portions to make up for it lol).

      • Molly says:

        They have him on a transcript of a phone conversation, so yes, they have evidence.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        They only have evidence of his participation on the scheme for the kid that they didn’t actually go through with, as I understand it, so that’s how he skated.

    • Candykat says:

      He wasn’t taped during the initial conversation (about the older daughter at his house.) Felicity must have signed the check for that one. The wiretapping started later, in the conversation about the second daughter. They only have WHM on tape considering a crime and then deciding not to go through with it.

      That said, I wonder if they were tipped off? Hence stating on the phone that they’d decided not to do it?

  3. ItsJustBlanche says:

    Everyone involved is absolute garbage.

    • Esmom says:

      Yeah, and add Mamet to the pile for defending them. WTAF?

      One thing that struck me in the indictment was the level of detail about parents’ ambivalence about doing this. Yet they did it anyway. One guy even said something like “crazy how the world works now, isn’t it?” Their twisted rationalizations, jfc. I’m so happy they got caught and hope this is just the beginning.

      • Lorelei says:

        @Esmom yes it struck me, too, how many of the parents seemed to definitely know it was wrong, sort of jokingly admitted it, then went along with it anyway. WTF

      • Kebbie says:

        Some of them seemed to approach it as some kind of necessary evil to get their kids in. Their kids just not getting what they wanted wasn’t an option for them.

      • Boodiba says:

        Rich people gonna rich. Entitlement runs deep ya know?

      • BeanieBean says:

        And Mamet’s saying it was this one time they went overboard for their kids–hardly. They’ve been breaking rules & gaming the system their kids’ entire lives. You know darned well they didn’t make through high school without ‘help’.

      • holly hobby says:

        One of the indicted was a managing partner of a big law firm. Now he is on leave from his job and I’m pretty sure he’ll be disbarred too. Is it all worth it?

        He knew it was wrong too but went ahead with it.

  4. Amelia says:

    The difference sounds like hard evidence vs he said/she said. Sounds like the guy can’t prove the contents of the sit down outside of personal testimony. If they only have text/email transcript evidence of his wife setting it up the first time, and then evidence where they backed out later, the best they could do for him is conspiracy to commit a crime, not the crime itself. They probably let it go to build stronger cases against the other suspects.

  5. Lucia says:

    I just read an article on Radar Online (take it as you will…it’s Radar) that said Bill knew what was going on was shady but he was unaware of what exactly was going on and he was against it. The article then went typical Radar to allude that this may spell doom for his marriage to Felicity.

    I normally wouldn’t put a lot of stock in what Radar says but I kind of think this one may ring true. Macy looked PISSED at the court hearing. But the source being Radar, I am not sure what to believe. The fact that there’s an article where she is already getting thrown under the bus for this whole fiasco by him is not good.

    • Esmom says:

      I hear you but him looking pissed could just mean being pissed at getting caught.

      • Kate says:

        Bingo. He’s pissed they got caught. I read the affidavit in support and it had excerpts of a phone call with Huffman and Macy and Singer discussing the plan and Macy’s parts are almost all [inaudible]. Like others said above, they would only have Singer’s testimony against him but not a lot of other evidence. All the other people indicted were recorded agreeing explicitly to various illegal things or admitting to having done them.

  6. Ronaldinhio says:

    Thank God you said this!!

    My firm belief is because she is a woman she being cast as the Lady Macbeth in the entire picture
    He was at least as involved

    • ByTheSea says:

      But other men have been indicted, so there’s that. Not sure what happened here.

      • Himmiefan says:

        Exactly, there’s just hard-core evidence against Huffman, at least at this point. I don’t think the Feds are done.

      • jan90067 says:

        They have EMAILS from FELICITY, that tie her in. There is no corroborating proof of him directly, I would assume. I think the phone call they have on him was the one saying he DIDN”T want to do the same thing for their younger daughter.

      • Ronaldinhio says:

        Do we really believe he was unaware of what she was doing?
        Do we believe, given his involvement with the younger daughter, that he was not fully involved in the elder daughter?

        I call sexist bullshit

      • Arpeggi says:

        Being aware of something isn’t exactly the same as actively pursuing a criminal act though. If FH was the one signing the check for the older daughter, then they have proof for her but not him. It’s all about what evidences you have, if you don’t have enough evidences to believe you’ll be able to get a judge/jury to declare the person guilty beyond reasonable doubts, then you don’t charge, it’s a waste of time.

        Now, there’s also the case of tax fraud and how the money was deducted on their taxes. Maybe then can he also be found guilty if they do a joined tax declaration (can you do that in the US?), but if they file separately, then that’s also on her only

    • JinnyBye says:

      He was obviously involved. But the feds can’t just charge him because common sense says he’s guilty. They need solid evidence, and they only have solid evidence that he considered it and didn’t go through with it with the second daughter.

      Of course he was involved with the first daughter, but they don’t have enough evidence to prove it, just enough to suggest it’s very, very likely. That’s not good enough.

    • holly hobby says:

      Some couples were indicted together. I read the names from my local paper and almost all were spouses. It is not a sexist issue. Please stop insinuating it is. She wrote the check. They have her emails. They just have a recording of him plotting with #2 and they ultimately didn’t go through with it. This was for daughter #1.

  7. Eliza says:

    Zeal is forcing SAT prep, extra curriculars, and charity work…

    … criminal is bribing officials to change SAT scores after being given extra time without just reasons, and claiming said bribe is a charitable deduction on your taxes.

    I think WHM isn’t involved (yet) because the tangible evidence only implicates FH; for the oldest daughter she wrote the emails and sent the checks (remember most charges are mail fraud) – they might have separate accounts. If they collected any computers at their home they might find the smoking gun they need to charge him.

    • laulau says:

      A lot of women who go to jail for welfare fraud or check kiting or shoplifting are also doing it because of ‘zeal for their children’s future’. They still rot in jail tho. I know Huffman et al won’t do time but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t.

  8. Va Va Kaboom says:

    This is just speculation, but I wonder if Macy didn’t actually want to go through with the bribery the first time too. If he’s on tape at the meeting being wishy washy about it and then the payments all came from Huffman, prosecutors might not feel its enough to charge him. Especially since they didn’t repeat it with their second daughter.

    • Kebbie says:

      He didn’t seem to be the driving force, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was reluctant about it. His daughter had previously said he wanted her to take a gap year after high school because “you’re only 18 once.” I think he probably didn’t buy into all the hype that getting her into USC was of the utmost importance.

      I’m not excusing him because he still allowed it to happen, but I think it’s possible he took some convincing to get on board. I think he wasn’t charged just because there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction against him.

  9. M says:

    The feds usually want a pretty solid case against someone if they are going to go forward with prosecution. They will have to be able to prove at trial that he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt – not just probable cause for arrest. Knowledge alone without action isn’t going to cut it. Most crimes require some sort of overt act. Doesn’t sound like there is enough evidence to charge him

  10. STRIPE says:

    Can we ease up on calling the kids stupid? Do we actually know anything about their intelligence? It’s really hard to get into good schools in CA in particular- plenty of very smart kids don’t get into USC/UCLA/Stanford.

    • Lucia says:

      And now we know why…

      • STRIPE says:

        I’m not defending the parents here. But I think it’s also unfair to pick on 17 year olds we know nothing about

      • QueenB says:

        Will somebody please think about the rich white girls who got into college by cheating? Dont pick on the most fortunate!

      • holly hobby says:

        Some of them were Complicit Barbie complicit. So yes they should be expelled.

    • OriginalLala says:

      Well you can watch Aunt Becky’s kid on Youtube, she is not a brainy child let me tell you…and Huffman’s kid tested pretty low on the SAT tests that weren’t fudged…..

      But also, play me the world’s tiniest violin for the rich kids who get everything handed to them at the expense of others

      • noway says:

        Okay it was a PSAT not an SAT that she scored low in, but her score was still better than over half the students who took it, and sorry but it happens to a lot of smart students. Probably one of the reasons a very elite school like University of Chicago which accepts only 7% of the people who apply has made the SAT/ACT optional. I don’t understand how people aren’t really going after the test centers and personnel. I mean my daughter had to practically promise her first born to take her test, online photo then current school id and driver’s license, but these people had other people taking the test for them. How does that work? Now I don’t feel sorry for these celebrity offspring students, because they have a great life and opportunities most don’t get a chance to have. Still, I don’t see the point in maligning them when we don’t have the facts either, and as of yet they haven’t been charged with anything. Just because other less wealthy people are maligned doesn’t make it right. Pot meet kettle.

      • BorderMollie says:

        Having watched Olivia Jade’s videos, and to put it politely, I can fairly confidently say an academic career is not going to fly for her.

    • STRIPE says:

      I get it – they’re not the most sympathetic figures – especially LLs daughter. They have all the privilege. And they’re going to be just fine no matter what (which makes this whole thing all the more infuriating). They’re also still kids. I’m sorry, I just can’t bring myself to insult teenagers because of their parents misdeeds.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      It’s really hard to get into these schools because the deck is stacked!

    • Ader says:

      I agree. And it’s not just in service of these spoiled kids. It’s also for the person reading this who also “only” got an 1100 or whatever on the SAT…that person likely isn’t “stupid.” Plus, we do a really shitty job in our society acknowledging the near infinite diaspora of “smarts.” We narrowly equate “intelligence” to high test scores and financial success, which is bullshit rooted in toxic materialism.

      • Heather says:

        I had horrible SAT and ACT scores. I’m a terrible test taker. Between test anxiety and performance anxiety and hating quiet, it all spelled doom for me. I took mine before it became super easy to get an IEP or accomodations too. I’m not a stupid person, I actually have a great memory, it just blanks in test situations. On the day to day in my job, in my life, I’m just fine.

      • noway says:

        It’s not easy to get accommodations for the test now. They require a lot of material to give the accommodations, and anxiety isn’t really one of the issues they let through much. My daughter has your issues. She actually vomited during one of the tests. She ran out of the room to the bathroom. and they had to re-administer the test to her on another day. Anxiety can really suck for some people. I was so proud when she broke 1270 on it. She’s actually improved from each test, now they take the PSAT at least twice. She wants to be in the middle of 1300 and I think she has a chance as her math score is the lower one, and most say this is easier to pull up. Plus another thing the kids taking it now have is they were the years where they changed to common core in thd middle of crucial years. The kids have big gaps in math learning. One of my daughter’s friends who is uber smart 1590 test taker was doing the weirdest way to multiple double digits. It was beyond odd but worked and her mom realized no one showed her an easier way.

      • Ader says:

        Noway,

        With all due respect, I think my point flew directly over your head…..

    • Boodiba says:

      They’re likely more lazy and entitled than inherently stupid.

    • Bailie says:

      Oh, please Stripe.
      If their child really wanted to have good grades for college and truly study hard for the needed exams, Felicity and her husband could have bought the best tutoring under the sun from the bribe money they handed over to the crook who arranged for their daughter’s test to be corrected, without being arrested and their reputation harmed in the front of the world and all in the comfort of their LA mansion.
      It seems to me that their child might not have been smart enough to do well on the test, so they bought it for her, so she could good get into a good college.
      And on top of it, they even committed tax fraud, nice.
      But, sure let’s cry a river for entitled, selfish, rich people, who already have a big leg up on most people with the their wealthy and well-placed connections, money and other resources.
      Shame on them and all those that make excuses for such crimes.
      There are victims here, most likely hard working, deserving kids from middle class or poor families that were not accepted over a rich kid that had her answers corrected in the test.

      • STRIPE says:

        At no point did I “cry” for them or imply that other hard working kids without $/connections were not victims here. Nor am I defending their parents.

        All I am saying is it’s low to insult kids you don’t know. I didn’t think that would cause such conflict here.

      • LoveBug says:

        Exactly Bailie, these rich people already have advantages beyond what most people could barely imagine. They can pay for best private schools, private tutors coming to their home, testers preparing them for SAT’s, no financial worries over how to pay for a college degree, jobs ready for them when they get out of college and they STILL are scheming, scamming and breaking the law. I’m not concerned for these kids, it will not ruin their lives, they are set for life without college unlike many other low income and middle income children that don’t have rich parents and great connections and friends to rely on to have at least a decent life. They worked only to have been maybe rejected for a kid from a wealthy family that bought them a test and/or place in a good college. I don’t know, if these kids are stupid, but I wonder why these parents had to commit a crime to get their child into a college by bribery or by correcting their SAT’s, it seems to me the kids were not able to do the test as was needed and or had not good enough grades. I did my SAT’s and nobody helped me to get ready for it, I had to roll up my sleeves and work hard to prepare and certainly nobody fixed my answers.

    • BorderMollie says:

      It sounds like their children are just painfully average. Most people eventually accept that their children aren’t especially gifted, but rich people are sure, simply by dint of birth, that theirs must be a heavenly gift. This is probably the hardest way possible to burst that bubble.

      But I’ll save my sorrow for the genuinely special kids that never get a chance as this numpty system elevates the average spawn of the rich and starves out the rest.

      • Keaton says:

        “It sounds like their children are just painfully average.”

        This is my impression too. Most of these parents have had successful careers and they probably see their kids as an extension of themselves. If their kids aren’t meeting some external criteria of success then it reflects badly on the parent in their minds.
        Bottom line: The kids are average and the parents are narcissists that can’t accept it.
        That’s my armchair analysis lol

    • holly hobby says:

      Go watch Olivia Jade’s youtube channel. That is not an intellectual. She also blatantly admitted that she cut classes in high school and was SHOCKED she graduated. Didn’t know how to even fill out her USC application. Mommy Lori ordered the Faux company to do it for her.

      That’s all the evidence I need. I’m sure it’s written all over the affidavits about these kids. Look if you were confident in your abilities, you wouldn’t cheat. Bottom line.

      These are dumb bells.

    • anon says:

      But that’s what some of their own parents called them or implied in the evidence provided…

  11. Gil says:

    I understand the point of wanting your kids attend to the best places your money can afford but is really unfair for the people who work hard to get in. All is related to bs privilege. At least if their kids were trying but the other actress kids are assholes who don’t even deserve to be in college. Jesus

  12. xdanix says:

    Don’t they have him on tape saying “we’re going to do what we did for our first daughter”, or words to that effect, when arranging the scheme for the younger daughter that they didn’t go though with? I mean, even though they can’t charge him for a crime that never went ahead, it clearly sounds like he was involved the first time too- even if they don’t have evidence on paper tying him to like like they do with Felicity, he knew what was going on. He said “what *we* did”. Can they not charge him with, I don’t know, conspiracy, or something?

    (I said yesterday in another thread, I have no legal knowledge whatsoever, so I may be sounding really dumb whenever I open my mouth about him, and apologies if so! I just find it very hard to wrap my head around him not being charged along with his wife when he clearly was not kept in the dark, or anything.)

    • Erinn says:

      I mean, he can argue that he didn’t know what was happening until it was a done deal. But they also have him on tape saying “No, we don’t want to go ahead with this” in regards to the second daughter, so it makes it more muddy.

      I mean, maybe conspiracy. But at the end of the day it doesn’t sound like they have solid proof of the actual crime. He was also very vocal about wanting his daughter to take a year off and not go to college right away – which makes him look even less interested in the whole thing.

    • noway says:

      This is the part I don’t think people get. Yes he is saying we are going to do the same thing we did for our older daughter, but he could have meant getting the extra time or at least that will be his defense. I mean $15,000 seems like chump change for someone to take the test for another. You have to bribe so many people to get to that point. First you have to fill out the copious material to get extra time, or maybe you bribe that person and I think it is more than one person who grants that like a committee. Then you have to bribe the proctor and usually there are more than one, plus you have to take a picture of yourself for the college board/ACT and they match it to you at that test, so if you don’t do that you bribe that person. Then you pay the real the test taker. It’s definitely more complicated than when I just showed up years ago. I’m just saying $15,000 seems a bargain in terms of crime costs here. I mean Lori Laughlin paid $500,000, granted for two, but that’s a big difference. It also seems like what you might pay just to fill out the forms for the extra time. Honestly, when I was working on getting extra time for my daughter, if I had an extra 15K around I might have paid to have it filled out for us instead of just giving up. It’s such a pain. Don’t know if any of that is the case here, but it’s plausible. Now I have no defense for the photoshopped athletes even a far fetched in left field one. I think if I was them I’d try to plea it down.

  13. K says:

    If you read the indictment, there are wiretaps of Huffman and many of the others. It doesn’t seem like Macy was recorded on a wiretap, which may be one reason they chose not to indict him. Loughlin and her husband were both recorded. There was evidence that the scheme was discussed with Macy, and I believe it is clear he was at least aware that they were planning to pay to cheat on the SATs. Maybe it’s because he isn’t on tape; maybe it’s because the better evidence against him relates to the plan for the second daughter, which didn’t happen.
    Don’t make this about crucifying women only. Read the indictment. There was nothing gray about what these people did. There were no innuendos like, “if you make a charitable donation I can help you out.” It was very explicit that Singer offered to have someone change answers on the daughter’s test in exchange for money. The saddest part to me is that Huffman talked about how driven her second daughter was, and how she planned to work hard and take the test multiple times to get a good score, and Huffman planned to cheat for her anyway. As I said, the plan didn’t go forward for the second daughter. Huffman stole an opportunity for her daughters to work hard and really accomplish something. It appears the daughter didn’t know about the plan. She got a 1020 on the PSAT, then a 1420 on the SAT. She must have been so proud. And now she has to learn that that was bullshit and her mom didn’t believe in her enough not to swoop in and cheat. It’s very sad for the kids.

    • Bubbalouie says:

      I remember times as a child and teenager when my mother embellished or out right lied about my accomplishments to make herself look better. She didn’t care how it affected me when I found out about it. Usually through friends. Embarrassing to say the least.

  14. Amy Tennant says:

    I don’t know why changing test answers is the action that ticks me off more than any of the others, but it is.

    • jessamine says:

      It is INFURIATING. My students work their a**es off to improve their scores, class performance. At least legacy students (by and large) don’t have the gall to act like they got there on merit.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Because it goes directly against the point of the test. It’s like rigging a voting machine versus influencing voters through social media. The former is absolute, hard-core cheating.

    • Amy Tennant says:

      I think it’s also because I work in academia. I admit I was once tempted when money was really tight to do some work at a term paper mill, but I ultimately couldn’t go through with it because it compromised my professional ethics. Academic integrity is really important to me. I’d just rather they bought a building than change the answers. A bribe is a bribe, like you say, but at least writing a big check to institutional advancement fools no one, and in the long run it even benefits other students besides your own kid.

      • Sunnee says:

        I know someone who writes doctoral dissertations for people. I also know someone who got her PhD because he wrote it for her. She paid her way to a doctorate. I work with her and she wears that PhD like a badge of honor. It disgusts me.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        The donation to the college would even be tax-deductible! (sigh) And imagine convincing your kid they had a disability they didn’t have,

      • jessamine says:

        In grad school I was a college application tutor for a hot minute until it became clear that while my job was pitched as demystifying and de-stressing the application process and keeping students on task … the parents who hired me saw me as someone who would literally write their child’s application essay for them.

  15. car says:

    He did this interview before the arrests –sounds like either they knew it was coming and he was covering his part or he really didn’t care if she went to a big college.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WC7zVJoc4E

  16. Dee says:

    OMG shut up Mamet. The only reason your daughter has an acting career is because of her last name.

  17. Karen2 says:

    I read that the incriminating emails were sent by Huffman only. Looking at the folk indicted they are solid middle class folk. No way any of them are going to jail. & Jussie better not either or imma gonna get me a placard.

  18. grabbyhands says:

    Dear David Mamet –

    Get stuffed. I don’t care how long you’ve known both of them or how great you think they are. These are not the actions of great people or nice people.

    All they had to do to get their darlings into good schools was precisely nothing. Their children are wealthy and white and have famous parents. They could have gotten into top schools with almost zero effort and probably with less money than their parents spent on doing things that are ILLEGAL. If they were really good people and good parents, they would have sat down their kids to help them study and get in on their own merit. Or at least more merit than it takes to stand by while someone else takes your SATs for you.

    He and that guy from Jane the Virgin really need to stop with the narrative that these were desperate parents just wanting to do the best for their kids. Their kids had ALL the options open to them – no door was ever going to be closed to them. This was all about greed and arrogance and laziness and entitlement. That’s it. This was no poor judgement or snap decision. They knew exactly what they were doing and saw nothing wrong with it.

    • Esmom says:

      The also could have been ok with their kids going to a “lesser” school than the elite ones named. So many good universities yet only a few names are worthy enough for some parents?

  19. Fanny says:

    It’s pretty simple – they only have Macy on tape in regards to cheating for the second daughter and the Muffmans never went through with it that time. No crime, no charges.

    Felicity is charged with arranging cheating for the older daughter. The FBI doesn’t have evidence showing that Macy was directly involved that time.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Someone thoughtful somewhere out there wrote how telling this is – that in splitting up household duties, the mother wrote the Email.

      • Tourmaline says:

        True, yes, But if you look at the dozens of people indicted MANY (if not most) are dads.

      • noway says:

        Most are both parents. The odd thing about Macy and Huffman is the fact it is only one parent and the low amount of money compared to others.

      • Candykat says:

        There are quite a few, actually, that are just the dads. But I agree that it’s odd that FH got such a discount price for her fraud. Maybe because they didn’t also create a fake athletic profile?

    • Tourmaline says:

      @Candykat, yeah I think the going price for ACT/SAT fraud was more like less than $50K, even then Felicity’s amount seemed kind of low, maybe there was a celeb discount.

      The athletic recruit fraud going rate was more like $250K-500K per student.

  20. QueenB says:

    What an insane argument Mamet makes (by the way a dad of one of the privileged ladies from Lena “Black women lie” Dunhams gross tv show). You could excuse pretty much any crime with that.

    That legacy students are a farce and need to be stripped of their degrees does not lessen the impact of this crime. Thats like saying torture is ok because other countries do it too. Classic whataboutism.

    He is acting like a parent stole bread for their starving child.

  21. Who ARE These People? says:

    Parents’ zeal to give their children better lives results in their legally claiming refugee status at the US border, being improperly detained or arrested, and having their children taken away and housed in cold and filthy cages and unable to be reconnected with their parents.

    Elitism at its least self-aware. This “can they help it if they only wanted the best for little Muffy?” only rubs it in.

  22. Lindsnowork says:

    I’m probably going to get attacked for saying this, so I want to preface by saying that what both women did was wrong, and illegal.
    BUT am I alone in thinking what FH did pales in comparison to what LL did?
    FH paid $15k for a proctor to give her daughter more time to take the test (which she could’ve gotten if she had any type of medical issue or behavioral, ADHD for example), and change answers.
    And I’d like to mention that a good SAT/ACT
    score doesn’t guarantee admission anyways.
    I score a 32 on the ACT, but was a lazy student and only had 3.2 gpa, and was denied admission into a few upper tier schools.

    LL literally had her daughters take freaking pictures posing as a damn crew athlete!!!
    Presumably because athletes are given a bit more leniency with regard to grades and test scores in the application process.

    Like I said, both women broke the law, but FH isn’t on the same level are LL in this scenario.

    • Erinn says:

      Yeah, I mean. At the end of the day they’re both fraudsters. But I agree – LL actions made me much angrier than FH. I still want FH punished for her crimes… but I REALLY want LL taken to the cleaners over this. That combined with her daughter going on about how she didn’t really know if she wanted to attend classes and was mostly there to party – a statement that isn’t that horrible for a typical 18 year old who got into a less competitive school on their own merit, but is really really awful when you know how much they cheated to get her where she is.

      • Tourmaline says:

        I’m slightly more horrified by the paying someone to fraudulently change my daughter’s test scores (what FH did) although paying someone to fraudulently present my daughter as a crew recruit (what LL did) is bad too.

        There were two main scams in the case–the ACT/SAT test taking scam and the Athletic Recruit scam. Some families did one or the other, some did both.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Whether you rob a bank and get $100,000 or $200,000, it’s the same crime of robbery. Whether you point a pistol or a rifle at the bank teller, it’s the same charge of armed robbery.

      Getting extra time if she didn’t deserve isn’t less of a problem because other, deserving students can be granted extra time. If anything it makes a mockery of the legitimate claims of students with disabilities.

      “And change answers.” That’s just flat-out cheating. Faking athletic photos is also flat-out cheating. Changing the answers is probably the worst offense because it goes to the core value of taking the test in the first place.

      Not seeing the difference. Huffman is just a higher-profile actor and given that she’s married to another high-profile actor, and their couple-dom has been much admired, they are taking the media heat.

      Should have thought of that before they embarked on this scheme.

      • Fanny says:

        Having someone change your kid’s answers on the SAT’s to up their score 400 points is straight up cheating. I don’t know how anybody could think it’s not that bad.

        FH’s scheme was never really about getting her kid more time to take the test. That was all just a ruse so the daughter could take the test alone at a facility with a corrupt proctor who would change her answers.

        I don’t think Lori Loughlin’s actions were any better or any worse. It’s all lying, bribery and an undeserving kid taking a spot away from a deserving kid.

      • Esmom says:

        Yes. Especially the part about gaming the system to get extra time. That’s a direct slap in the face to all the work that’s been done to help the playing field for those with very real disabilities. It makes my blood boil.

        And why even get her extra time if they were going to correct the answers anyway? That doesn’t even make sense.

      • Millie says:

        Esmom, I suspect the extra time wasn’t something they even wanted. It makes more sense to me that they pretended she had a disability in order to get someone to administer the test privately (and then bribe that person to change the answers). The extra time probably just came automatically with the disability accommodation.

      • cheche says:

        Esmom the extra time was needed in order to get them to be able take test at a “controlled facility “, one that Singer had paid the proctor to change the answers.

      • jan90067 says:

        It’s ridiculously easy to get a Dr. to sign off on an ADD/ADHD diagnosis. One of my nephew’s friends did just that. He did NOT have it, yet his parents got him “diagnosed”, and this perfectly normal kid was given TWO DAYS to take the test. Of course, he got a 35 (out of 36) on the ACT.

    • Millie says:

      You’re right to be angry about LL having her kids pose as athletes. I think you should be equally angry about FH having her daughter pose as someone who has a mental disorder.

    • Fanny says:

      @Esmom, without the extra time she would have had to take the test at her high school with all of the other students. They needed to have her take the test by herself at this one West Hollywood facility where they had a crooked proctor.

      I think the Muffmans also convinced their daughter that she really did have a learning disability and this was all legit because she needed the extra time (and she probably thought it’s why her scores went up so much the second time).

      The guy in charge of the scam encouraged the parents to believe that their kids really did have learning disabilities. It helped the parents feel like their actions were justified.

      • Erinn says:

        “I think the Muffmans also convinced their daughter that she really did have a learning disability and this was all legit because she needed the extra time (and she probably thought it’s why her scores went up so much the second time).”

        That one makes me sad, honestly. I believe that the majority of these kids knew something was up – but when it comes to stories like that, I just feel a little sorry for these kids who think they ACTUALLY earned their scores.

      • Fanny says:

        @Erinn, in the indictment, the scammer guy actually laughed about some of these kids who were so happy when they got their good SAT scores back that they got all excited about taking the test again and doing even better. Not only did they not know about their parents cheating, they really felt good about the achievement they thought they had earned. That was really gross and sad to me.

      • Kebbie says:

        @Fanny That is just sad. I imagine some of them are having a real identity crisis right about now.

        At least the Loughlin kids knew they were frauds. It’ll probably be a lot easier for them to recover mentally and emotionally than the ones who had no idea. Her one daughter didn’t even want to be there.

        Imagine some kid who thought they got into their dream school all on their own only to find out this guy is laughing at them and their naïvety.

      • Esmom says:

        Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Although my son got extra time and it was still administered at the high school, in a private room, but supervised by one of the high school teachers, not some professional outside proctor.

        And to suddenly realize someone has a learning disability just before the SAT? This is exactly why it’s so hard to get accommodations, you have to prove that you have a history of receiving accommodations for a diagnosed disability. They must have jumped through a lot of hoops to fake a trail like that. Or more people in the chain were bribed than has been revealed.

      • Erinn says:

        Ugh that’s so sad. SO SAD. I know they’re privileged, and they have the resources to bounce back easier than a kid without all that – so my sympathy isn’t as strong as it would be for kids without that safety net. But my god, what a horrible thing to set your kid up for. And a kid that got so excited that they’d improved – that’s a kid who at least seems to want to do something more with their lives than just being a trust fund kid. I think in those cases they really need to take a different approach than an outright expulsion. If they’re managing to succeed in their classes, and genuinely had no idea what their parents did, I’m not opposed to letting them stay in school. Or if they were to write some sort of recommendation to another school a tier down explaining that they’ve been competent enough to maintain their grades in the program… I just don’t know. I feel like they shouldn’t be punished for their sh-t parents, but at the same time they didn’t deserve their spot. What a tough place to be in.

    • Veronica S. says:

      Wasn’t Huffman one of the parents who abused the disability protocols to get her daughter’s test in a specialized area, though? Because if so, I’m going to tell you as somebody with a neurological disorder that is often a learning disability, that shit has ramifications well down the line for a lot of kids because it often leads to regulations tightening.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        Yep. Yep. Yep. My son is on the autism spectrum and has anxiety disorder, and has on his IEP that he gets extra time for tests and can take them in smaller groups. Right now he is a freshman in high school and is fighting to get rid of his IEP and have all of his accommodations removed that we had to fight for years through testing and evaluations to get for him. He just wants to be treated like everyone else. I am torn between admiring him for it and beating my own head against the wall like he used to, because he might still need it for the SAT!

        It was really, really hard to get the right diagnosis for him and to get the right accommodations. He even had to switch middle schools to get the proper services. I am so thankful that he has worked so hard and improved so much, and I’m grateful to the teachers that helped him.

      • Esmom says:

        Hi Amy, I’m glad to hear your son is doing well and yes, I can relate to your gratitude for amazing teachers. I have a list of teachers and therapists who have made such a difference with him over the years, it was like a parade of guardian angels watching over him.

        FWIW, my son, also on he spectrum, kept his IEP and was able to fly under the radar through high school. His resource teacher recognized pretty much immediately that he didn’t want to be labeled and didn’t force him to participate in some of their initiatives if he wasn’t comfortable. She intervened on the occasions when he struggled but mostly held back and let him fly on his own. I will always be grateful for how much she helped him become a really solid self-advocate, which has carried over into college.

        And keeping the IEP — because you never know when it might become more critical again, such as near the end of sophomore year for my son after doing well prior — and getting the accommodations for the SAT and ACT absolutely enabled him to get into a four year university. He said he never would have finished the tests without the extra time. His GPA was not stellar so he needed a decent test score for admission. He is now happy and thriving at college! With support from a great disability office/program and a counselor who really gets him and knows to keep a distance unless he really needs her. Best wishes to you and your son.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        For you and yours, too, Esmom! Thanks for the insight. He has his IEP meeting coming up in two weeks, so I’ll keep that in mind. (I have wanted to drink so badly after some of those).

      • Amy Tennant says:

        I’m thinking he might need to hold onto it, too, because he used to have emotional breakdowns, and his father passed away in December. He seems to be handling it pretty well, but I am afraid at some point it’s going to catch up with him. His older sister and I are not handling it at all well. 🙁

      • Esmom says:

        Amy, I am so sorry for your loss. I can’t imagine the magnitude of your situation, grief combined with your worries for your kiddos. He may indeed have a breakdown down the road, so having backup support is good to have.

        My son really has a hard time processing strong emotions and that’s what happened at the end of his sophomore year. He had a manic episode of sorts that was triggered by a bullying situation months prior. He wasn’t the one bullied — it was more of a group situation on his sports team that he just stewed about until one day it built up into a something he just couldn’t handle.

        I wish I had more to offer in terms of support as you grieve.

    • ama says:

      I am not an US-citizen so excuse me being not informed about the US-college admission policies, but if “good SAT/ACT score doesn’t guarantee admission anyways”, then could it be possible that being the child of a VIP “helps” with the admission, too? I can see colleges being eager having kids of famous an rich parents as their students…

      • Amy Tennant says:

        It likely would have helped. This all may have been unnecessary. Well, it was definitely unnecessary. The kids could have gone to colleges with less rigorous requirements. They could have started at community colleges and transferred later. The parents could have gotten them tutors or just donated money. As you say, the name recognition would have gotten them a few points. This was all so unnecessary. Either the parents were just blinded by love for their kids and wanted to buy them everything including a top-tier college, or they were blinded by vanity, or both.

        No one is saying this, but is it possible they didn’t go through the scheme with the younger Huffman-Macy kid because they found out that kid was capable of acing the test independently? That would be a nice twist, although now unfortunately everything either child has accomplished will be suspect.

    • Ali says:

      “Presumably because athletes are given a bit more leniency with regard to grades and test scores in the application process.”

      Not presumably- in actuality student athletes do not have to have the same GPA/test scores as non athlete applicants.

      And not a bit more, a lot more leniency, like do you have a high school diploma leniency.

      I share the other posters outrage that the fake crew recruit can vlog and get paid while real student athletes would get kicked out of school.

      The student athlete system is all kinds of messed up.

      There’s a very expensive prep school where I used to live and a good friend’s daughter is a division 1 athlete and when she was in high school the prep school tried to recruit her and said they’d give her and her two non-athlete siblings full rides if she transferred and played for them. So that three full rides not to mention just a seat in the classroom not going to “worthy, needy” kids because sports are that important even at the prep school level.

  23. cheche says:

    Further charges/indictments can always happen. But if all the hard evidence (emails, recordings, checks) is tied to Huffman, Macy probably won’t get charged for just muttering in the background. Just because he seemed to be aware when it was the second daughter’s turn, doesn’t prove he knew the full story the first time. He might have been the reason it didn’t happen twice. Reading the transcript, it seemed like Huffman was ready to do it again even though the second daughter may not have needed the help. Helicopter parenting at its worst.

  24. Aims says:

    I have a son who will be going to college in two years. His first choice is our state collage. It’s not an Ivy League school, but it’s a very good school with a solid reputation. This story makes my blood boil. It enrages me because there are students who have worked their asses off to get into college. Students who want better for themselves. Some who are coming out of bad situations or maybe the first in their families to be going to college. Really deserving people.

    Then you have these assholes who are buying their children spot into a college that they haven’t earned or wanted. It sends the message that you don’t have to work hard in life because mommy or daddy will always foot the bill or find away to get me what I want. It’s infuriating. Of course it’s illegal, but it’s also spitting on the neck of the hard working people who have worked to be in the position that these entitled brats take for granted.

    Oh and speaking as a parent. No I wouldn’t do everything possible to get my son into a school he didn’t earn to get into. He has to work and study just like everyone else. It’s a lesson in life. You work for what you want in life. Nothing is guaranteed and if it’s important to you, work for it.

    • ama says:

      Unfortunately, your son will read this news and realize that some people/kids are not “like everyone else” but “above” 🙁

  25. jessamine says:

    WHM may be equally but less provably guilty or this may be an issue/course of action the spouses were legitimately divided on. I.E., the cheating was suggested, discussed, WHM was like “uh…meh,” and the Felicity went ahead and pursued it without his support.

    He clearly knew about it, though. I am so personally disappointed. I loved them as a couple and wanted them to be better.

  26. Meredith says:

    Sure there’s probably enough evidence to arrest, but the feds only indict if they know they can get a conviction, which is why they have such a high conviction rate. I don’t think there’s anything more than that at play here. They just don’t have enough to indict him as he wasn’t as active in this scheme as Felicity was.

  27. Mitzy says:

    People do this all the time. The school I went to only allowed 3 members of the same family to stay on there as the parents “donated” *cough cough* the all weather tennis courts and hockey pitches.

  28. Who ARE These People? says:

    Abolishing these tests might help.

    We’re in Canada, with no SAT or ACT used for university or college admission. There’s no testing infrastructure for undergraduate admissions. Students apply through centralized provincial systems, which pull course grades and look at whether specific program pre-requisites have been taken, with specific grades achieved. It pushes a certain pressure to get on a certain path down into the high school years, and then students may and often do change paths once at university, but there are no standardized admission tests. Haven’t seen much by way of AP classes either; the tracks are either university-bound or, well, other (the latter aiming at community college or post-secondary employment). This is in Ontario, anyway. It’s all much more uniform, and all the universities are public. We don’t do the crazy college tours, either. Elite American kids are good at being hyper-competitive because of the system in which they are raised, and it seems like it’s only getting worse.

    • Esmom says:

      In the US, some universities are doing away with the test requirement but it’s been slow to catch on. I’m not sure it would help combat fraud, though. These parents would find another way to cheat, like finding someone to falsify grades on their kid’s transcript or something.

      I do agree that something has to change about the system in general, it is crazy. I say that having just had two kids go through the admission process. We were pretty low key compared to a lot of people (meaning we were fine with state universities, which are great schools! Hello?) but the kids get stressed no matter how hard you try to mitigate it.

      The other major problem is disproportionally rising tuition costs. My alma mater is over 10 times more expensive than it was when I was there 30 years ago. Way out of sync with salaries and the cost of living,

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        It would be harder to bribe, like, high-school guidance counselors. : )

        We used to live in the States and were prepared to send our child to a state school, we both got solid educations at state schools at a more reasonable price. Of course now their prices have gone up too and there’s more competition from the kids who can’t make it into the elite private schools. I don’t know, it’s crazy. There’s so much pressure on the kids, so much build-up. I worked for a Fortune 100 company and at the time they actually looked for state-school applicants because they knew we had the hustle. That’s probably changed now.

      • Esmom says:

        WATP?, I think it might have been the high school guidance counselors who caught onto this scam actually. The indictment talks about how a number of them raised red flags about kids being admitted as athletes, because they knew the kids were not athletes! I think Loughlin’s daughter was one of them. The families/Singer were able explain the discrepancies away but probably not completely. I’d like to think the high school counselors are heroes in this story!

        As for state schools, yes, it’s harder than ever to get into state schools, especially the flagship universities. U of Michigan, for example, has an Ivy-level admission rate. I’m not sure I could get into mine in this day and age anymore, lol.

        And the crazy thing is we are paying more for my son to attend a state school (out of state tuition, which has skyrocketed in even greater proportion than in state tuitions) than we would have at a couple of very nice private schools, because they offer much more in merit money. In fact many state universities offer zero merit money. But those schools still do very well at helping their graduates find good jobs with good companies. We are very happy with his experience so far, as is he. 🙂

      • jan90067 says:

        Esmom, you’re right about U of WI. That is where my younger nephew got in (I spoke of him in yesterday’s post on this topic). He got straight into U of WI School of Business, which has a low freshman entrance rate (I think it’s under 20). But it was definitely not his first choice. But even being a state school, being from CA, it’s still costing about $70K/yr. For my other nephew, who’s in NYU/Tisch, it’s about $80K/yr. It’s insane! Oh, and a little fun fact: My nephew was admitted in the Atlantic School at Tisch, founded by, none other than David Mamet and William H. Macy!

        When I was at UCSB, it was about $8-10K/yr (in state), depending on where you wanted to live around/on campus.

    • Veronica S. says:

      I’m fine with those exams given at a graduate level, but I think it would be wiser for universities to administer their own proctored exams tailored to their school’s foci. A even better idea would be to get rid of the stigma surrounding community college attendance and lessening the pressure on students to attend college straight out of high school. Some people who did well in high school may crash in college because of its more unstructured format and a lack of discipline (because not everybody has that by 18!). Other people may thrive in it, as I did. I get why the tests exist, but ultimately they serve more to widen the divide between the haves and have nots because the people who do well on them typically have more access to learning resources and/or are neurotypical.

      • noway says:

        Kind of surprised the colleges haven’t thought of that. It would give them another avenue for money.

  29. Steff says:

    He’s a real piece of work. I still remember his weird response to the Times Up/Me too movement.

  30. adastraperaspera says:

    Is he cooperating with the FBI for leniency? Letting her take the fall? He’s clearly an accomplice, and if they put it on their taxes as a donation and he signed the tax return… I sense a divorce on the horizon either way.

  31. Lorelei says:

    I was so wrong the other day, when the story first broke, thinking he probably didn’t have much to do with it and that was why only Felicity was charged. He is absolutely just as guilty but I guess they don’t have enough hard evidence on him. But that doesn’t explain why the *media* is focusing only on the women, because from the standpoint of most people, he’s just as guilty even if he didn’t compose the emails himself.

    I shouldn’t even be surprised anymore at the difference in treatment that the women get. We saw it with Kate and Meghan being “blamed” for issues that most of us agree are really between William and Harry. And it reminded me that I once read — and I’m not kidding — that after JFK was shot, the police told Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife that it might never have happened if she had only been “kinder” to him. I mean?!

    Anyway things in the Huffman/Macy household are probably quite interesting right now…

  32. Bubbalouie says:

    Is anyone else grossed out by her arm in that photo?

  33. mandyb says:

    Can we please take a moment and look at the way the WOMEN are treated here? Many rich men were caught also but all we hear about is these two women. Hence the treatment of WHM. Yes it is awful and unfair and we all sort of suspected this was happening but to pillory these two women alone is really crappy. The men are huge wall street dudes and you certainly don’t hear about their careers going south. I just want you all to step back and look at the optics.

    • Fanny says:

      None of the rich men were famous. Lori Loughlin/Mossimo and the Muffmans are celebrities and frankly, the only ones that really interest me. I would only have read this story in passing if it hadn’t involved people I “knew”.

    • Tourmaline says:

      This is misleading. Of course the headlines are the two famous people arrested-Lori and Felicity.

      There are also headlines, from a simple google news search, of the many, many others, dozens of wealthy men arrested. See for instance– Gordon Caplan, head of a prominent NYC law firm. Just saw a story about how he is now put on leave from his law firm.
      Of course the TMZ, People, and even Celebitchy focus on the two recognizable celebrities, that doesn’t mean that everyone else involved doesn’t have their name out there and stories too if you look.

      • Candykat says:

        Exactly. I live in NorCal and know many people who know one or more of the indicted parents personally. I even know one of them marginally. They may not be in the headlines or discussed on gossip sites, but it is safe to say they are socially and professionally ruined.

    • jules says:

      Oh please, stop making this a man vs. woman thing. There are plenty of articles on the main guy Singer who masterminded this whole thing, and also the guy from Harvard who took the exams for the students.

    • holly hobby says:

      No some CEOs had to step down. A prominent NY attorney was asked to step down in leading his firm and he’s on leave. I’m pretty sure he’ll be disbarred too. The women are highlight because everyone knows who they are. These nameless faceless CEO’s and doctors don’t merit a mention in the press. However you can still look up the charging documents and find their names.

      One of the indicted was the owner of PJs burrito. That came out of my local newspaper.

  34. Hmm says:

    Macy is the snitch

    • Tourmaline says:

      ooh now that would be the plot twist! I am actually super curious about how the FBI found about this. I think in the press conference they said someone gave them a tip while they were investigating a totally different case.

      • Fanny says:

        No need for Macy to snitch – the guy in charge of the scam flipped on all of his clients. He’s “CW-1” (Cooperating Witness-1) in the indictment. I wonder what sentence he’ll wind up with.

  35. MissML says:

    My husband couldn’t even name my kids teachers, pediatricians, or extracurricular schedules. I wouldn’t call him a neglectful father either, I can fully see a situation where Macy wasn’t involved or had only tangential knowledge.

    • Lady Keller says:

      Same here. My husband and I have very traditional gender roles in our family, primarily because it plays to each of our strengths. He has no idea what goes on with school or who teachers are, when we do our extra curricular activities etc. I suspect the Muffmans are similar in that mom deals with school stuff and domestics. She sent the emails, she did most of the leg work, she wrote the cheque, it’s easier for the feds to build a case against her. It sounds like at best they could file an accessory charge against him but it possibly wouldn’t stick.

      In this case I dont think she is being punished or dragged through the mud just because she is a woman. She took the lead role and she left the trail of evidence. Right or wrong she gets charged.

    • Anna says:

      Interesting you mention this. Who knows what the real truth is but I must say that I do not like WHM at all and it’s interesting that it’s largely because of a couple of talk shows he did and one in particular where he spoke so hatefully about this daughters and always comes across as one of those sarcastic dude-bros who constantly shits on anything beautiful, I honestly can’t even stand the sight of him anymore. He’s a caustic, mean person. #cancelled

  36. Adrien says:

    I can imagine the scenario of his arrest like the end of Fargo where police officers arrested WHM while he was trying to escape. Too bad I’m a fan. As for FH. I was willing to hear her side but I read the email where she responded with Ruh – roh. She’s so smug.

  37. Cay says:

    I wrote David Mamet off after seeing “Oleanna” when it was first came out in the West End. (Yeah, I’m old. I know it.) What a piece of garbage that play is. From that point on, I’ve never been able to stomach Mamet. I would say he’s the worst, but what the last couple of years have taught us is that so many of these guys are the worst.

  38. Ginevra says:

    Not a lawyer and I’m not going to explain this well but many of the indictments in this case, as with many similar cases, are for a crime called “mail and wire fraud.” This is a kind of archaic law from the 1800s that is literally the law on the books that allows the FBI to pursue these crimes. You have to be involved in a scheme to defraud others AND you have to use the USPS to carry out this fraud. The existence of the scheme alone is not enough to prosecute. So probably Macy’s name was not implicated on any of the mailings related to this alleged crime. Just my speculation.

  39. me says:

    Can someone tell me how they got caught? Was there a snitch? How did the FBI find out? This story is so interesting but not much is being told on the news.

    • Tourmaline says:

      I said this above but I am super curious too! Apparently in the press conference the other day the FBI said they were investigating another unrelated case when someone gave them a tip that led to this investigation. Would love to know what the tip was/who finally said something.

      I wonder if the original tip came to the Boston FBI office, because that is where the HQ for this case ended up being.

    • noway says:

      I heard that the Yale Soccer coach who was indicted somehow let the cat out of the bag and was a cooperating witness. Then Singer who owned the so called charity was a cooperating witness. Apparently, both of them have already pleaded guilty so that is one way to tell where this came from. Also, Georgetown fired the tennis coach for recruiting irregularities in 2017, and they were cooperating with the feds too.

      • Tourmaline says:

        I forgot about the Yale coach! That makes sense, would explain how the investigation was based on the east coast.

    • holly hobby says:

      From what I read, the IRS was auditing the faux charity and they saw enough to alert the DOJ.

  40. Famika says:

    Bye Felicia. Big phony… When she did interviews in the past about why she took roles and causes she participated in, she spoke about equal rights, helping the downtrodden. Such a big phony.
    These parents who cheated to get their kids into various colleges are cheaters and disingenuous.
    What bothers me is how some are still trying to excuse what Felicity did. We also don’t know the whole story with Macy, maybe more will come out and about why Macy wasn’t arrested. The entire scenario of what these parents did is disgusting.
    Also 700 cases involving Singer, does that mean there are 700 students placed in colleges by cheating methods of their parents? That’s disgusting.

    I wish I could have seen Nicolette Sheridan and Terri Hatcher reading headlines about Felicity.
    Hmmmmm girl.

    So proud of my degree that I worked for on my own. I Had no books the first weeks of my classes but still managed to get papers in, lived off of bananas and a slice of pizza for weeks because it’s all I could afford. I overcame the death of a parent while in College and still through a haze of sadness and insecurity , managed to carry on and go forward to finish. Life is about facing challenges and it tests you and builds character, don’t these parents understand that their children need to learn to build their own inner foundation and character?

    • Renee says:

      I agree Famika. You & I had to earn our way, but these brats just strolled right in the “side door” because their parents could not be bothered to teach them to work or achieve their own results.

      Felicity, Macy, Loughlin and all of the others involved can save any future apology they are having their crisis managers write up as we speak. Their actions speak so loud that I won’t hear a word they’ll say.

    • jay says:

      These parents don’t consider “challenges” part of the university experience.

  41. Cee says:

    Yeah, no. I attended an elitist, prestige school for 15 years then moved on to an equally elitist university. All thanks to my education, my parents’ ability (and willingness) to pay my fees, and MY grades. The ones I got through sleepless nights, through a lot of failures and lessons learnt, etc. All the international exams I had to sit for and prep for, the countless materials I had to get through, the experiments, the essays, the thesis, etc. My parents wanted THE BEST for me, but they always believed I could get there myself, through my hard work and my intellectual capacity. Not once did they think about cheating my way in or breaking the law to get me there.

    • Peanutbuttr says:

      Yeah same here. My parents paid for a lot of shit but I was still expected to do the legwork myself. Those kids couldn’t even be bothered to sit the SATs

    • jay says:

      It sounds like they didn’t just believe you could do it yourself…they made you do it yourself (with the help of a lot of resources, granted). And that’s what separates you guys from the jerks!

  42. Erin says:

    Man, just having watched my son go through months of SAT prep–two hours every Saturday for the last six months, plus weekly homework on top of his regular homework, working with an expensive tutor with whom I’m trading my services as a writing mentor in part, otherwise, no way we could afford it–and then seeing my son nearly in tears when his first shot at the exam came back at 1380, feeling like he’s blown his chance at a “top tier” school–this whole story makes me want to tie every single one of these privileged fuckers to the end of a rocket and shoot them and their offspring into the sun. Been trying to explain to my son that not only are his scores terrific, but that his dedication, work ethic, and genuine interest in the world of ideas are the things that will get him wherever he wants to go in this life. But because he’s aware of how thoroughly corrupt the system is, all he thinks is that he somehow failed me and himself. It breaks my heart. I hope these assholes do jail time. Also, College Board, who runs the SAT, is just as corrupt. Too many stories to tell, but if your kid has an IEP (as my son has mild form of cerebral palsy so needs extra time because handwriting is slow for him), College Board as a private company *personally* decides whether or not they feel like honoring what is a state by state *legal document* between a family and they school system. AND it turns out the right wing motivation behind this is not wanting to give kids who have English as a second language extra time accommodations for writing in English as is done in some states with high second language speaker populations. When I pointed out denying lawful accommodations is a direct violation of federal ADA, suddenly they couldn’t do enough to make sure my son’s IEP was serviced properly. Ok. I’ll stop. But man does this story get me going….

  43. Nicegirl says:

    There are likely a whole bunch of private colleges that would be happy to admit students whose parents can pay the bill in full. Probably fancy ones, too. Set up for folks who aren’t ‘stupid’- with cash money. $$$$ dolla dolla bills, y’all

  44. Annabel says:

    God, Mamet’s a moron. I think most parents try to help their kids make their way in the world, but most of us manage to draw the line before we get to bribery, conspiracy, and racketeering.

  45. Svea says:

    Not just legacy donations of buildings. As I have said before, a work colleague bragged that all it took was a 50k donation to get a kid declined accepted.
    And these effers then write the donations off on their taxes so we are all ripped off.

  46. CQ says:

    Mamet is wrong about donating a bldg and this kind of bribery as the same thing. First, putting aside the moral / ethical argument, it takes much more $$ to get your name on a building at most colleges. At mine, it was minimum $30-40 mm. Not very many people can afford that amount but TONS of parents can afford $15k so the displacement of qualified students through these “side-door” deals is much greater. Second, despite the ugly optics of donating a building to get your child into a school, you can still argue that the building holds a greater benefit to the institution and the student body. For example a new computer lab can be funded and donations can be earmarked for need-based scholarships. The bribes in these cases aren’t even going to the school.

  47. Erin says:

    I’d like to just remind Mamet that there are poor parents still sitting in prison for registering their children in a different school disctrict to give them better access to education

  48. Taya says:

    What school did the Macy girls get into anyways? I know LL got her kids into SC.

  49. Tim Whatley says:

    I have a (delightful) vision of Macy in his character from Fargo…that nervous/high strung behavior when the walls started closing in regarding his grift at the used car lot. Bahahahahaha…

  50. SM says:

    I understand from the post on Lainey gossip, Felicity requested to hide this whole scheme from her daughter, who is very academically oriented. Since I did not read the documents my self I do trust someone who did, hence I would seriously hope people would withhold their judgement of partners and kids involved in this mess, just imagine being a privileged lid with high profile parents who are now in jail because they bribed the education system only because they did not believe that their kids can get though life on their own merit and basically think that their kids are not smart enough. Congrats to Felicity, she ruined her kid’s life. And this is quite compatible with the narrative of privileged kids who think they are entitled in life only as an extension of their parent’s success and who knew and participated in this crime.

  51. AJ says:

    The whole thing is so infuriating. And the worst part is they will all probably just be given a slap on the wrist. A year from now we will see Aunt Becky and Lanette on The View crying about how much pressure their is to get their kids into a good college and how its society’s fault this all happened.

  52. Elizabeth Suzanne Phillips says:

    The difference with donating a building is that the building will benefit all the students, not just one.

  53. Bunny says:

    I really love WHM’s acting. He’s incredible. But if he’s involved, charge him.

    Also, if it was simply about one child getting in without deserving it, I’d agree with David Mamet.

    But since that “one child” (we really don’t know how far this goes) kept another, more deserving child out of the school, denying them a chance they’d worked for and did deserve; this actually matters.

    Somewhere out there, a deserving student didn’t make it.

    It doesn’t help that Felicity Huffman has positioned herself as an ally while bulldozing those she says she wants to help out of the way of her children.

    It also doesn’t help that some of the monies would have been tax deductible. If taxes were deducted, I hope that they serve prison sentences.

  54. mtam says:

    Wouldn’t the difference in legality between the legacy/building donation bribes and this kind of bribe be the intent in committing tax fraud? I’m assuming people who donate a building to a school would mark down the donation as a school donation in their taxes. However what Huffman and Macy did was funnel their money through Rick Singer’s fake charity in order to be able to write it off on their taxes as a legit donation. It may be immoral and unfair for people to be able to donate directly to schools in order to bribe their kids into being admitted, but they are not committing fraud when they do it. At least that’s how I imagine they get away with it.

    • Maxie says:

      Is there that many people donating “buildings”? It isn’t like there’s ten buildings built every year on the Ivy League campuses.

      I think the difference is indeed the tax fraud but also the cheating. A well-connected, rich parent will know who to call to give a signification donation to the school’s foundation in exchange of his/her kid being accepted. That’s what the Kushners did. The kids got accepted even though their grades weren’t good enough but they didn’t donated to a fake charity, didn’t tried to fake test results or pretend they were elite quarterbacks in Connecticut.

      • mtam says:

        Yeah, exactly, that’s what I believe to be the difference. It’s shady, but mostly transparent practice.

  55. jay says:

    This isn’t an “unfortunate” thing that just happened – those involved DID it. They. Did. It.

  56. Joanna mitchell says:

    The most ironic thing about this is that most of these kids didn’t even want to go to university or do these things and the parents lost their careers for nothing. Stupid all around. If your kid is stupid, you can spend your money trying to make them less stupid not use criminal activity to make them seem smarter. They’ll still be stupid this way.

  57. Princessk says:

    All this stuff doesn’t surprise me. We are always hearing about wealthy Americans making hefty donations to universities and then their kids wind up study in the institutions. There should be a full scale investigations into lots of these wealthy high profile families.

  58. dota says:

    Macy got tipped off and turned rat for a walk. Probably not, hehe. They can scoop him up later when they offer to let the kids/wife get a plea deal for his guilty plea.

  59. Anon33 says:

    This is such a complete and total change from what happened when I was in HS. I WAS IN CHARGE OF MY ACADEMIC LIFE. I absolutely “knew” whether my grades were good or not. I simply DO NOT UNDERSTAND these stories of the kids somehow not knowing or being “surprised” that they finally got a good grade on a test. How detached are you from your own schooling that you “don’t know” what grades you get????

  60. Betsy says:

    At least with the building bribing it was pretty limited in the number of seats it took and students or the institution get a useful building – a library, a dorm, etc. Plus if a person’s last name was on the building, it was a bit of a tell.

  61. Littlefishmom says:

    How about just teach your kids to study and earn their grades. There was no reason to do this. Now look where they are. Forever tarnished.

  62. Deeanna says:

    These are dishonest people, who made the decision to commit crimes. THAT is the legacy they’re leaving to their children.

  63. Nubbins says:

    I don’t understand why you’d spend a fortune to get your kid into one of these schools if they obviously won’t be able to pass their classes once they are in. What then — keep throwing money at the school to buy the child’s grades too? Why not just buy the whole degree outright and be done with it?