Felicity Huffman tells judge she wanted her daughter to 'have a FAIR SHOT' at college acceptance, as prosecutors call for actress to spend just ONE MONTH in jail after she pleaded guilty in admissions scandal

  • Court said Friday Felicity Huffman should serve a month in jail and pay $20,000 
  • She was recommended a year's supervised release after her time behind bars
  • Prosecutor's said house arrest in her Hollywood Hills home was not good enough punishment 
  • Her attorney's responded by asking for her to only have a year's probation, 250 hours of community service, plus the fine 
  • Huffman's husband William H. Macy, Desperate Housewives co-star Eva Longoria, and Huffman herself wrote some sentencing memorandum letters
  • Her 161-page filing featured 27 letters of support including Huffman's words that she thought by cheating she was giving her daughter a 'fair shot' 
  • Huffman pleaded guilty earlier this year to committing mail fraud and honest services fraud in connection with the college admissions scandal
  • She paid $15,000 to have an SAT proctor correct her daughter Sophia's answers

Felicity Huffman has been recommended to spend just one month in jail in connection to the college admissions scandal where she pleaded guilty in April to mail fraud and honest services fraud.

The actress wrote in a letter delivered to a Boston judge on Friday that believed she was giving her daughter with a learning disability a 'fair shot' by paying $15,000 for a SAT test to be corrected to help Sophia gain entry to the University of Southern California.

After prosecutors originally called for Huffman to spend between four and 10 months locked up, the recommendation filed Friday by the U.S. Attorney's office asked for her to be jailed for 30 days.

Following her time inside, Huffman, 56, will be on supervised released for a year if prosecutors - who described her acts as 'deliberate and manifestly criminal' - get their way.  

Court said Friday Felicity Huffman should serve a month in jail and pay $20,000 (pictured May 13 outside a Boston court)

Court said Friday Felicity Huffman should serve a month in jail and pay $20,000 (pictured May 13 outside a Boston court)

Felicity Huffman and family attends to Sophia Huffman's graduation at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on June 10

Felicity Huffman and family attends to Sophia Huffman's graduation at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood on June 10

'In the context of this case, neither probation nor home confinement (in a large home in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool) would constitute meaningful punishment or deter others from committing similar crimes,' prosecutors wrote to the judge about Huffman, who is married to 69-year-old Shameless star William H. Macy. 

Felicity is mother to daughters Sophia, 19, and Georgia, 17, and admitted to paying for a proctor to correct wrong answers on Sophia's exams. 

Huffman routed her payment though admissions official Singer via his nonprofit Key Worldwide Foundation; prosecutors said the aforementioned foundation was set up as a front to accept payoffs. 

Prosecutors added: 'Her efforts weren't driven by need or desperation, but by a sense of entitlement, or at least moral cluelessness, facilitated by wealth and insularity'.

As part of Huffman's communications with the scandal's mastermind William Rick Singer, investigators learned in their Operation Varsity Blues probe that Huffman responded in a somewhat carefree manner when her plan to have someone else correct her daughter's test was nearly ruined.

'Ruh Ro! Looks like [my daughter’s high school] wants to provide own proctor,' Huffman wrote in an email in October 2017.

Huffman has said her daughter has a learning disability which prompted her to cheat. In her April guilty plea she said her daughter had been seeing a neuro-psychologist since she was eight years old.

Prosecutors wrote to the judge: 'Neither probation nor home confinement (in a large home in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool) would constitute meaningful punishment or deter others from committing similar crimes'

Prosecutors wrote to the judge: 'Neither probation nor home confinement (in a large home in the Hollywood Hills with an infinity pool) would constitute meaningful punishment or deter others from committing similar crimes'

Her 161-page sentencing memorandum contained 27 letters of support, including one from her former co-star Eva Longoria and one from Huffman herself

Her 161-page sentencing memorandum contained 27 letters of support, including one from her former co-star Eva Longoria and one from Huffman herself

Operation Varsity Blues: William H. Macy also penned a letter for her sentencing memorandum.  Felicity admitted to shelling out $15,000 for a proctor to correct wrong answers on her daughter Sophia SATs (L-R William H. Macy, Georgia Macy, Felicity Huffman and Sophia Macy in 2014)

Operation Varsity Blues: William H. Macy also penned a letter for her sentencing memorandum.  Felicity admitted to shelling out $15,000 for a proctor to correct wrong answers on her daughter Sophia SATs (L-R William H. Macy, Georgia Macy, Felicity Huffman and Sophia Macy in 2014)

Referring to the former Desperate Housewives star's incriminating email, the prosecutor wrote: 'Millions of parents send their kids to college every year. But they don't buy fake SAT scores and joke about it ("Ruh Ro!") along the way.'

Prosecutors dropped the amount of jail time they were pushing for as the probation department suggested there was no need for her to be incarcerated. 

'Some period of incarceration is the only meaningful sanction for these crimes,' prosecutors explained. 'Not because the defendants' relative wealth has generated public resentment, but because jail is a particularly meaningful response to this kind of offense. 

'For wrongdoing that is predicated on wealth and rationalized by a sense of privilege, incarceration is the only leveler: in prison everyone is treated the same, dressed the same, and intermingle regardless of affluence, position or fame.'

Huffman's legal team requested that she instead carry out 250 hours of community service and be put on one year's probation, as well as the recommended fine. 

She would work with two Los Angeles-based non-profits, Teen Project and the Community Coalition.

'If approved, Ms. Huffman would tutor young people, assist with financial aid applications, answer phone calls at the front desk, and help with the organization’s outreach efforts,' her defense team wrote. 

Her 161-page sentencing memorandum contained 27 letters of support, including one from her former Desperate Housewives co-star Eva Longoria and the show's creator Marc Cherry.

Longoria shared that Huffman supported her when she was bullied at work in her early days of fame.

'I … know these things may sound like first class problems or small insignificant moments. But to a young, naive, Mexican girl who felt like I didn’t belong, those gestures meant the world to me,' Longoria wrote. 

The Eva Longoria Foundation philanthropist continued explaining that she has seen Huffman do good for young people.

'The most special part about this is that my charities were always for children of the Latino community … There were so many times Felicity was the only white woman in the room helping me improve the lives of these brown faces and families. I will never forget that.'

The University of Southern California is one of the schools mixed up in the college scandal

The University of Southern California is one of the schools mixed up in the college scandal

William H. Macy wrote to the judge they are in family therapy.

He penned: 'Felicity’s relationship with her daughters exploded on March 12th and rebuilding that relationship will be a long process.'

Macy said Sophia has struggled with finding a college to accept her since the scandal came to light and has trouble sleeping.

'She still doesn’t like to sleep alone and has nightmares from the FBI agents waking her that morning with guns drawn,' he wrote.

He added that parenthood frightened Huffman and said she struggled when it came to using her 'common sense' about what was right.

Huffman told Judge Indira Talwani: 'I honestly didn’t and don’t care about my daughter going to a prestigious college. I just wanted to give her a shot at being considered for a program where her acting talent would be the deciding factor.'

The star claimed in the letter that she considered cheating for six weeks after mastermind Singer told her Sophia's test scores would be too low to get into college. Huffman wrote she was shocked when she learned the admissions scheme was used by parents.

'I felt an urgency which built to a sense of panic that there was this huge obstacle in the way that needed to be fixed for my daughter’s sake,' Huffman wrote. 'As warped as this sounds now, I honestly began to feel that maybe I would be a bad mother if I didn’t do what Mr. Singer was suggesting.' 

The Oscar-nominated screen star has insisted she is remorseful.

The When They See Us actress claims she has been unable to obtain roles or even auditions and her daughter Sophia reportedly has been blocked from performing arts auditions - even at schools where SATs results are not necessary. 

'I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fair' she wrote. 'I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family.'

Huffman has said since news of the scandal broke, her children have been angry with her. She claims they had no idea of what was going on.

The screen star said at one point Sophia tearfully told her: 'Why didn’t you believe in me? Why didn’t you think I could do it on my own?'

Huffman penned to the judge: 'In my blind panic, I have done the exact thing that I was desperate to avoid. I have compromised my daughter’s future, the wholeness of my family and my own integrity… I have deep and abiding shame over what I have done.'

'Ms. Huffman is deeply remorseful for her crime. She recognizes that she deserves to be punished for what she did,' Huffman's attorney said.

But prosecutors continue to point out her privileged position and suggest to was abusing her access to contacts in high places.

'She could buy her daughter every conceivable legitimate advantage, introduce her to any number of useful personal connections, and give her a profound leg up on the competition simply because she would be applying to college as the daughter of a movie star,' prosecutors wrote.

Huffman is due to be sentenced September 13. 

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