Later this week, actress Felicity Huffman is set to be sentenced for her role in a huge college admissions cheating scam dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.”
Ahead of her sentencing, the actress penned a letter to the judge, expressing “utter shame” for her role in the scam. Although she revealed there “is no justification” for what she had done, she said she was just trying “to be a good mother.”
“I don’t write this letter to you in any way to justify my wrongdoing, my guilt or to avoid conscious acceptance of the consequences,” she wrote. “In my desperation to be a good mother, I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot.”
“I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fair. I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family,” she said in the three-page letter, which also detailed how she got involved with the scandal in the first place.
“Mr. [WIlliam ‘Rick’] Singer was recommended as one of the best experts in LA, and I was told I would be lucky if I could get him to sign on to help me,” Huffman revealed, adding that her intention was to hire a counselor to maximize her daughter’s acceptance rate.
Though the two worked legitimately for a year, with extra assistance for her other daughter, she eventually realized her daughter’s scores weren’t improving. When she confronted Singer about the scores, he informed her that if the SAT scores didn’t increase dramatically, then she wouldn’t be considered for any college auditions.
However, when the scores failed to increase after a year of tutoring, Singer said “we will make sure she gets the scores she needs” by convincing the proctor to bump up the scores after the test. Though she struggled with the decision for six weeks, she revealed that she “honestly began to feel that maybe I would be a bad mother if didn’t do what Mr. Singer was suggesting.”
As the actress continued, she expressed the “utter shame” she felt after the decision because she “knew it wasn’t right.” She also described the moment her daughter found out about the scandal and accepted her punishment for her crimes.
In May, the actress pleaded guilty to conspiring to pay $15,000 to a fake charity that facilitated the SAT scam. While prosecutors have suggested one month in prison and a $20,000 fine, according to NBC News, her lawyers are hoping for one year of probation, 250 hours of community service and a $20,000 fine.
But as Huffman’s sentencing approaches, many on social media are calling out the blatant miscarriage of justice, when it comes to black women in similar situations.
“A black homeless woman in CT, living in her van, used an address for her 5 y/o to attend kindergarten and was jailed for five years,” one user wrote, adding, “Felicity Huffman bribes a college for her daughter and the prosecutors are recommending she serve 1 Month. Wealth & race inequality in USA.”
Another wrote, “Remember the story of the black mom (Kelley William-Bolar) who used her Fathers address for her daughters to attend a better school, and was sentenced to 9 days in jail and 3 years probation. Where were these stupid people then who are now defending Felicity Huffman?”
“Remember Tanya McDowell,” another wrote. “She got 12 years for sending her son to school in Norwalk CT while she ‘lived’ in Bridgeport. She was homeless. She was convicted of ‘stealing’ an education. Felicity Huffman gets 30 days for bribing her daughter into college. #CollegeCheating SCandal.”
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