Prosecutors Recommend Jail Time for Felicity Huffman in College Bribery Case

Felicity Huffman will spend time behind bars for her role in the college bribery scandal—that is, if the feds get their way.

Prosecutors outlined their sentencing recommendations in documents filed in the United States District Court of Massachusetts on Friday. The memorandum was submitted months after Huffman admitted to paying $15,000 to college counselor Rick Singer—the alleged mastermind of the scam—to inflate her daughter’s SAT scores.

According to the sentencing memo, prosecutors want the 56-year-old actress to serve one month in jail “followed by 12 months of supervised release and a fine of $20,000.” 

“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,” the prosecutors wrote, as reported by NBC News. “[Huffman’s] efforts weren’t driven by need or desperation, but by a sense of entitlement, or at least moral cluelessness, facilitated by wealth and insularity. Millions of parents send their kids to college every year. But they don’t buy fake SAT scores and joke about it…”

Huffman, who was previously facing up to four months in jail, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud earlier this year. In response to prosecutors’ recommendations, Huffman’s legal team requested one year of probation, 250 hours of community service, and a $20,000 fine. The actress also asked for leniency in a letter submitted to the court.

“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 letter read. “This sounds hollow now, but, in my mind, I knew that her success of failure in theater or film wouldn’t depend on her math skills.”

Huffman said she had told Singer she was concerned that her daughter’s test scores would prevent her from getting into the desired program; the actress claimed Singer then suggested she shell out thousands of dollars for a proctor to correct her daughter’s exam.

“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,” she wrote. “It is right that I should carry this burden and use it as fuel for change in my own life, and hopefully it will be a cautionary tale for my daughters and the community.”

You can read Huffman’s full letter below.

Huffman’s lawyers also submitted Letters in Aid of Testimony written by her friends and family, including her husband, William H. Macy, and her former Desperate Housewives co-star Eva Longoria. 

Huffman will be sentenced Sept. 13.