The college admissions scandal: Why did Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman allegedly pay bribes to schools? Who else is on the list?

The college admissions scandal, also known as “Operation Varsity Blues” (based on the James Van Der Beek football film by the same name) has uncovered the high-profile parents who allegedly bribed their children's way into elite colleges, including Georgetown, Yale and USC.

These wealthy parents went one step further than funding new buildings or paying for pricey SAT tutors. Instead, they allegedly Photoshopped photos of their kids playing sports they had never taken part in and faked SAT scores by having other people take the exams for them.

The Wall Street Journal first investigated the details behind the scandal. When financial executive Morrie Tobin was being investigated as part of a financial fraud case he gave investigators information about William Rick Singer, the man behind the scam. That tip spawned a year-long investigation that ended with the arrest of celebrities, CEOs and coaches, accused of faking sports photos, cheating on standardized tests and faking SAT scores.

Full House star Lori Loughlin's influencer daughter, Olivia Jade, was the most famous celebrity offspring apparently involved. The YouTube vlogger and Instagram influencer had been vocal about her hatred of school - and now, the USC Registrar confirmed that she and her sister Isabella Rose are no longer enrolled at the school. In the wake of the scandal, beauty company Sephora announced that they ended their partnership with Olivia Jade, and she temporarily took a break from social media, returning to YouTube in December 2019.

Shortly after the investigation’s charges were made public, The New York Times reported on how the colleges will be handling the scam - especially since in many cases, the kids didn't realize their parents were apparently offering bribes in exchange for their schooling.

Though other students were in on it - according to New York Magazine, some took the exam alongside proctors who reportedly told them the correct answers during the tests.

Here's what you need to know about the most high profile characters in the scandal - and what’s happened with each of their cases.

Who is Lori Loughlin?

Lori Loughlin started her career at 11 as a print model and at 15 became a soap star on The Edge of Night.

She starred on Full House as Rebecca Donaldson-Katsopolis - better known as Aunt Becky to its legion of fans. She appeared on its Netflix follow-up, Fuller House, which premiered in 2016 and aired its final season (without Loughlin) in 2019.

Loughlin was previously a co-creator, producer and actor on the short-lived WB series Summerland, which a young Zac Efron also starred in. More recently she has appeared in Hallmark Channel movies, though the media company also cut ties with Loughlin following the allegations.

On March 12, 2019, she and her husband, Target fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were arrested in the college entrance scam and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. She and her husband both posted a bail bond of $1 million.

Loughlin and Giannulli are expected to stand trial alongside six other parents charged in the scandal starting in October 2020, where they could face up to 50 years in prison and be ordered to pay millions in fines. Loughlin and her husband have been charged with three counts of conspiracy, including conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The two formally pleaded not guilty in April 2019, and requested to have their cases dismissed as they alleged “investigatorial misconduct” by the government. Prosecutors have been ordered to respond to the allegations by the judge, but the case has not been dismissed.

Why did she allegedly pay bribes for daughter Olivia Jade?

The Full House star and her husband allegedly paid $500,000 to guarantee that their daughter, 19-year-old influencer Olivia Jade, would be accepted at the University of Southern California.

She also reportedly pretended both of her daughters would join the women’s rowing team, when neither woman had rowed before - Olivia Jade has, however, spent time on yachts.

She was, in fact, spending spring break in the Bahamas on a USC Chairman's yacht when the story broke.

During her time at USC, Olivia Jade made it clear her focus was on YouTube rather than University studies, even tweeting “YouTube will always be my #1 passion.”

“I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend. But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying…I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know,” she said in one of her widely-watched YouTube videos, according to Yahoo.

She hated high school just as much. "I've gone to one class and I already die. I just wanna go home!" she said in a vlog posted the first day of senior year of high school. "I’m home and I’ve never been so happy to be anywhere in my whole entire life."

Now, reports have emerged that Olivia Jade didn’t even fill out her own application to USC. Instead, applications were submitted by one of Singer’s employees.

Who is Felicity Huffman?

Felicity Huffman is a former Desperate Housewives actress married to Shameless star William H. Macy.

Fittingly, Shameless had a similar plot point to the current college scandal, where one of Macy’s TV children takes the SAT for his wealthy peers to get them into schools like Stanford.

Macy did not face charges, but was simply named in the complaint as “spouse.”

"One can help your children in this business, and the nepotism works, and I have no problems with it. If I can give them a leg up, I absolutely would. It's a great way to make a living. It really is,” he told Entertainment Tonight in a foreshadowing past interview.

In May 2019, Huffman pleaded guilty in federal court to paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct her daughter Sophia Macy’s SAT answers. Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison (though she was released early after 11 days). The judge also ordered her to pay a $30,000 fine, complete 250 hours of community service and adhere to a one year probation.

Why did Felicity Huffman apparently help her daughter Sophia Grace cheat on exams?

Huffman allegedly paid $15,000 to doctor her daughter’s SAT scores. Her daughter also allegedly took the SAT at a testing center where a special proctor corrected her answers afterwards, apparently without her knowing what was happening. In fact, many of the children involved claim they didn't know their parents were apparently paying their way in.

Originally, Huffman’s daughter’s school wanted her to take the test on their campus, to which she responded in an email, “Ruh Ro!” She also reportedly considered using the same technique with her second daughter but ultimately did not go through with it.

Her daughter ultimately received 1420 on the SAT, which was 400 points higher than her PSAT score. Sophia’s 2019 college acceptance was rescinded in the wake of the scandal. In April 2020, she announced that she had been accepted into Carnegie Mellon University where she planned to study at the school’s theater program.

Who else is on the college admissions scandal list of names?

There are 33 parents involved who allegedly paid California life coach Rick Singer to help get their children into prestigious colleges across the country.

Singer referred to his technique as using the “side door” and reportedly collected an estimated $25 million from participating parents, who all made tax-deductible donations to his charity - they were actually spent on college bribes.

Prominent businessmen, tech moguls, lawyers and CEOS are all part of the parental units involved. Coaches and college admissions officials are also being charged - federal authorities announced that 50 people were involved in total.

“There were essentially two kinds of fraud that Singer was selling. One was to cheat on the SAT or ACT, and the other was to use his connections with Division I coaches and use bribes to get these parents' kids into school with fake athletic credentials,” US Attorney Andrew Lelling said.

Singer eventually wore a wire to collect intel for the authorities, but apparently warned parents in advance. "You haven't done anything wrong yet so please don't say anything that would be harmful to you guys because you haven't done anything, which was absolutely illegal," Singer said.

What colleges are involved in the scandal?

Yale, Georgetown, USC, UCLA, Wake Forest and Stanford are all involved.

All eyes have been on USC because of Olivia Jade’s attendance there. The university told Buzzfeed that they’re starting a “case-by-case review of current students and graduates who may be connected to the scheme.

Wake Forest told The New York Times that the student in this case will remain enrolled, since she didn't appear to know about her parents' actions.

How will the scandal be remembered?

The college admissions scandal is coming to your TV screens. Well first, it’s actually hitting bookstores in the form of a book entitled Accepted, written by Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz and published by Portfolio, a division of Penguin Random House. Variety confirmed that Annapurna Television has received the rights to Accepted and will be adapting the story of the scandal for TV. The People V. OJ Simpson writer D.V. DeVincentis will be writing the screen adaptation.