Oscar nominee Huffman and Fuller House star Loughlin were just two of 50 people indicted as part of what the FBI called “Operation Varsity Blues,” a deep investigation into the potential corruption and fraud in the elite college admissions system. The bureau filed a report with the District Court of Massachusetts that outlined how the parents indicted have paid millions of dollars to schools such as Stanford, Yale and the University of Southern California to guarantee admission for their children. Several of the allegations involved Rick Singer, founder of a college prep business, who took money in exchange for hiring a person to take the SAT or ACT in place of the student applying for college admission. Huffman and her husband William H. Macy were charged with disguising their bribe as a “charitable donation” of $15,000 to Singer’s organization to boost one of their two daughter’s SAT scores. Macy talked with Parade in January 2019 about his daughter’s “stressful” college application process. “We’re right now in the thick of college application time, which is so stressful,” he said of his daughter, Sophia. “I am voting that once she gets accepted, she maybe takes a year off.” He went on to talk about his younger daughter: “My daughter Georgia, she’s interested in politics, political science and pursuing that. She’s in a very academic school and killing it.” Macy was not indicted. Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli were accused of paying USC $500,000 through Singer to pass their two daughters off as recruits to the crew team, though neither one had participated in the sport. In addition to the number of parents, several Division I coaches, CEOs and one college administrator were also embroiled in this scandal. In the end, Full House alum Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison for her role in the college admissions scandal. The actress’ husband Giannulli was sentenced to five months. In addition to her prison sentence, the Fuller House star, 56, will have to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 150 hours of community service. Giannulli, on the other hand, will have to pay a $250,000 fine and serve 250 hours of community service. She was released from prison in Decemeber, 2020 after serving nearly two months. Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison. She also received a $30,000 fine, 250 hours of community service and one year supervised release. Huffman was released after 11 days. Find out if Lori Loughlin is returning to When Calls the Heart.
