College Admissions Scandal: Felicity Huffman Arrested!

[Mama Mia]

What I can not understand is WHY would these people pay all this money, and take such a risk, just to get their kids into a certain school?

Why not community college and then transfer? Or a lower ranked school? Or a gap year to study and re-take exams? Or start them in a business? Or a few on-line classes and work in the family business? Or jeeze let them just be silly Instagram influencers- which apparently somehow also generates $$$? 

There are so many options, why on earth would you choose this one? It’s not like these kids future depends on getting into Stanford instead of  San Jose State (nobodies does, but these kids REALLY don’t need a boost ) 

So stupid and wrong, on so many levels. 

Also- WTF- Frank and Jamal - two of my favorite characters - turning out to be entitled assholes in real life? No. Make it stop. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 minutes ago, Mama Mia said:

What I can not understand is WHY would these people pay all this money, and take such a risk, just to get their kids into a certain school?

Why not community college and then transfer? Or a lower ranked school? Or a gap year to study and re-take exams? Or start them in a business? Or a few on-line classes and work in the family business? Or jeeze let them just be silly Instagram influencers- which apparently somehow also generates $$$? 

There are so many options, why on earth would you choose this one? It’s not like these kids future depends on getting into Stanford instead of  San Jose State (nobodies does, but these kids REALLY don’t need a boost ) 

So stupid and wrong, on so many levels. 

Also- WTF- Frank and Jamal - two of my favorite characters - turning out to be entitled assholes in real life? No. Make it stop. 

Prestige. It’s all about keeping up with their wealthy peers. Did you see the quote where Mossimo made a quip about not sending his kids to ASU. My cousin went there and we do joke that it’s a party school. But going to ASU is beneath these people. 

[tabitha2]

It’s the prestige of going to an elite school. Snobbery pure and simple. Muffy and Thurston would not dare tell the their country club friends that  Young Thurston Preston Chandler the IV is going to a junior College with brown people and the maids son. 

Edited March 12, 2019 by tabitha2

[libgirl2]

How many of the people caught are Hollywood and how many are rich business people? i ask because of course I am seeing how left wing liberal Hollywood and their agenda are destroying everything etc..... I was just curious as to the numbers. Seriously, the rich, right and left, have done this sort of crap for years. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

How many of the people caught are Hollywood and how many are rich business people? i ask because of course I am seeing how left wing liberal Hollywood and their agenda are destroying everything etc..... I was just curious as to the numbers. Seriously, the rich, right and left, have done this sort of crap for years. 

It seems it’s mostly rich business people and only a few Hollywood actors. 

[VelociRapture]

4 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I can't believe I skimmed/scrolled through the 200+ page affidavit listing the defendants and their bad acts.  Random observations:  It looks like some (maybe all?) of the kids had to have known what was going on (i.e., they weren't even in the geographic area when their tests were being given).  There are some photos showing how the kids' faces were photo-shopped onto real athletes.  And a handwriting sample for forged signatures, of course!  There are some transcripts where the scam testing company had to relay to the cheater parents that the company was either being audited or a university was conducting an internal review.  I am hoping it interrupted their sleep, ha ha! 

Glad they were caught.  I wonder if there are similar scams at other colleges.

 

Thank you for doing that. It appears the article I saw was incorrect about the level of knowledge most of the kids had about everything. If that’s the case then I do hope they face some sort of consequences too. Expulsion seems like a good start, though I wouldn’t be opposed to criminal charges as well (if appropriate - I’m not a legal professional and don’t even play one on tv.) They might be young and they might have trusted their parents, but they’re more than old enough to know right from wrong and they should face repercussions for that.

[libgirl2]

2 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

It seems it’s mostly rich business people and only a few Hollywood actors. 

There you have it. The person who posted made it sound like it was all Hollywood actors. ITs like I said, right or left, its the rich folks doing this sort of thing. 

Edited March 12, 2019 by libgirl2

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 minutes ago, libgirl2 said:

There you have it. The person who posted made it sound like it was all Hollywood actors. ITs like I said, right or left, its the rich folks doing this sort of thing. 

Oh yes this is definitely a rich person thing. I imagine many of these people are all over the political spectrum. If most of these people are liberal or conservative, it’s probably a coincidence. 

[Lisafer]

25 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

He’s vegan now. Which is so crazy to me because it’s so different from how he used to eat. But I’m sure he feels better. 

Makes me think of Penn Jillette. I'm pretty sure one of his old "Bullshit" episodes was about vegetarianism...and then he went vegan and improved his health, lol!

[nelliebelle1197]

45 minutes ago, luv2laugh said:

No one is arguing. We are simply stating what has been reported about Trump's dining habits. Why are you so defensive about this?

She gets defensive about a lot of stuff.

[CTRLZero]

1 minute ago, VelociRapture said:

It appears the article I saw was incorrect about the level of knowledge most of the kids had about everything.

It's hard to know if all the students totally understood what was going on.  Certainly the ones who didn't even take the test knew.  There were others who had to go through doctor's [fake] testing to get a special accommodation to receive extra time to take the test.  But it looks likely all of them were told to keep quiet on certain aspects of their athletic status.  Anyway, hard to know what each individual kid knew, since it was their parents doing most of the dirty work.

[nelliebelle1197]

This makes me sad about Felicity Huffman. She and William H. Macy worked their way up and found acting success later on - they were struggling, working actors for a long time before they hit. They seemed like decent people. Oh, well.

[tabitha2]

Rich people can also afford to easily go Vegan or just whatever complex expensive Diet is the newest fad this week. Poor people diet: Ain’t no bread and cabbage in my pocket so I ain’t got no bread and cabbage in my belly.  But tacos at Taco Bell are 50 cents this week and the good ole dollar menu is filling so that will have to do

[Mama Mia]

23 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

It’s the prestige of going to an elite school. Snobbery pure and simple. Muffy and Thurston would not dare tell the their country club friends that  Young Thurston Preston Chandler the IV is going to a junior College with brown people and the maids son. 

So weird. If nothing else, the last few years have proven that being rich does not necessarily equal being bright.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, nelliebelle1197 said:

This makes me sad about Felicity Huffman. She and William H. Macy worked their way up and found acting success later on - they were struggling, working actors for a long time before they hit. They seemed like decent people. Oh, well.

Maybe that’s why she said no to doing this with their next child. 

[tabitha2]

Because she probably got scared of being found out not because she suddenly became an honest  person . 

[luv2laugh]

Correct, there are only 2 sets of Hollywood parents involved. There are many rich business investors, CEOs, and a co-chairman of a law firm that have been accused as well. Note: I read that William Macy has not been accused but his wife, Felicity Huffman has been named.

Typically, this opportunistic elitist behavior is frowned upon in Hollywood (once it's discovered). Although, Hollywood is notorious for its nepotism... I believe Felicity Huffman & William Macy and Lori Loughlin & her fashion designer millionaire husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are going to face backlash from their friends and peers.

I'm curious as to why the names of Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were called out (and their faces are being plastered all over the articles) when we do not know the names of the rich businessmen and the global law firm co-chairman involved?

What did you all think of Lori's husband, Mossimo Giannulli's comment about ASU? What a privileged asshole. 

Quote

"We just met with [our older daughter’s] college counselor this am. I’d like to maybe sit with you after your session with the girls as I have some concerns and want to fully understand the game plan and make sure we have a roadmap for success as it relates to [our daughter] and getting her into a school other than ASU!” Mossimo allegedly wrote to William Singer, who is accused of running the scam, in 2016."

https://pagesix.com/2019/03/12/inside-the-alleged-bribe-that-got-lori-loughlins-kids-into-usc/

Edited March 12, 2019 by luv2laugh

[tabitha2]

I almost guarantee plenty more famous people and couples are going to be ratted out before the dust settles. Right now plenty of panicked stars and CEOs are making calls and deleting files, paperwork and hushing people up. Song as old as time.

 

@luv2laugh  Laughlin is C list sitcom actress and Huffman is B list lately.  They are not big enough to handle carefully. CEO’s are more powerful. 

Edited March 12, 2019 by tabitha2

[JermajestyDuggar]

6 minutes ago, luv2laugh said:

Correct, there are only 2 sets of Hollywood parents involved. There are many rich business investors, CEOs, and a co-chairman of a law firm that have been accused as well. Note: I read that William Macy has not been accused but his wife, Felicity Huffman has been named.

Typically, this opportunistic elitist behavior is frowned upon in Hollywood (once it's discovered). Although, Hollywood is notorious for its nepotism... I believe Felicity Huffman & William Macy and Lori Loughlin & her fashion designer millionaire husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are going to face backlash from their friends and peers.

I'm curious as to why the names of Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were called out (and their faces are being plastered all over the articles) when we do not know the names of the rich businessmen and the global law firm co-chairman involved?

Because most ordinary Americans only know the names of celebs and we are a Hollywood obsessed culture.

[CTRLZero]

16 minutes ago, tabitha2 said:

Because she probably got scared of being found out not because she suddenly became an honest  person . 

In the affidavit, there is this (abbreviated since I don't know how to cut and paste this sort of document, but it's on page 95):

220   Likewise, in a call...[Cooperating Witness] CW-1, acting at the direction of law enforcement agents, told LOUGHLIN that the audit of KWF [the scam charity] was focused on payments related to students who had  been admitted to USC, which included her daughters. 

[My bolding and asides.]  I noticed this discussion of audits and internal reviews elsewhere.  I hadn't noticed that it was at the direction of law enforcement agents.  This may have caused someone, like Felicity Huffman(?), to back off of further discussions.

[Snarkasarus Rex]

So Kamilah Campbell's score was invalidated because it rose more than 300 points, even though her new score was consistent with her grades.  But rich, white people who arranged for scores to be changed or paid someone to take the test for their kid get caught 'accidentally'?  

This really calls the integrity of the College Board's processes into question.

[luv2laugh]

Buzzfeed has the criminal complaint documents...
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/felicity-huffman-lori-loughlin-college-entrance-cheating

Here is a piece of it that was posted by @OsitaNwanevu on Twitter:

Spoiler

 

Quote

"There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy and I will add there will not be a separate criminal justice system either," Lelling said. "For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely talented student was rejected."

Here are a few of the CEOs involved.

One is former PIMCO CEO. This is a big deal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/12/a-slew-of-ceos-are-charged-in-alleged-college-entrance-cheating-scam.html

Edited March 12, 2019 by luv2laugh

[CTRLZero]

4 minutes ago, Snarkasarus Rex said:

So Kamilah Campbell's score was invalidated because it rose more than 300 points, even though her new score was consistent with her grades.  But rich, white people who arranged for scores to be changed or paid someone to take the test for their kid get caught 'accidentally'?  

This really calls the integrity of the College Board's processes into question.

In the transcripts, there is a discussion or two about some of the parents wanted their kids to attempt the test on their own first to see if they could get a reasonable score.  It was somewhat discouraged by the scammer since there was the risk of having a difference of more than 300 points if the next test was taken by a substitute test-taker.  I didn't understand what that meant until your post, so thank you!  It looks like the 300 point rule is audited and/or enforced regardless of rich/poor, etc.  The defendants in this case were apparently detected by other means. 

 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

The irony is that raising your kid to be a privileged brat is infinitely more damaging to them than going to an 'undesirable' school or no college at all.

[formergothardite]

Is there a list somewhere of all the names?