quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Joe Biden would not have sentenced her.

Actually, I would not have either. In the wide world of corruption this is small potatoes.

quote:

“You took the step of obtaining one more advantage to put your child ahead of theirs,” Talwani told Huffman, who sat between her lawyers in a packed courtroom in US District Court in Boston. She was ordered to report to an undetermined federal prison on Oct. 25.

* * * *

Her prison sentence signaled that 14 other parents who have pleaded guilty in the scandal will likely be sent to prison as well. Twenty-eight other defendants, including actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial.

“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Huffman said, her voice shaking. “I will deserve whatever punishment you give me.”

* * * *

“Trying to be a good mother doesn’t excuse this,” Talwani said with a deep sigh. “A person in the position of wealth and the position you are in is in a much easier position in this meritocracy.”

Talwani said the sentence, which included 250 hours of community service and a $30,000 fine, would allow Huffman to move forward. Unless sentenced to some time in prison, Huffman would forever face questions asking “why you got away with this,” Talwani said.

“I do think this is the right sentence here,” the judge said. “You can rebuild your life after this.”

Huffman said she is haunted by the memory of driving her daughter, Sophia, to the West Los Angeles test center in December 2017, knowing that she had secretly paid Singer to have a proctor bump up her daughter’s SAT score afterward.

At the time, Huffman said, she was thinking “turn around,” but “to my eternal shame I didn’t.”

Huffman described how her daughter felt betrayed after her mother was arrested.

“ ‘I don’t know who you are anymore,’ ” Huffman recalled her daughter saying.

“I could only say, ‘I am so sorry, Sophia. I was frightened. I was stupid, and I was so wrong,’ ” Huffman said.

Huffman told the judge she was ashamed of what she had done.

“I now realize with my mothering, love and truth must go hand in hand,” she said. “I see that my love coming at the expense of truth is not real love.”

In a letter sent to Talwani last week, Huffman said her fear that her daughter, who has learning disabilities, would not get into college threw off her “moral compass” and compelled her to cheat.

In court Friday, Assistant US Attorney Eric Rosen scoffed at that explanation as he argued for prison time.

“With all due respect to the defendant, welcome to parenthood,” said Rosen, adding that it is terrifying, exhausting, and stressful.

“What parenthood does not do, it does not make you a felon,” he said. “It does not make you cheat.”

* * * *

Talwani said Huffman was among the least culpable of the parents charged in the admissions scandal. Unlike other parents, she did not enlist her daughter’s participation in the scheme and did not pay Singer to inflate the scores for her younger daughter.

* * * *

She later said, through a statement, that she accepted her punishment without reservation and looked forward to performing her community service.

“I can promise you that in the months and years to come that I will try and live a more honest life, serve as a better role model for my daughters and family, and continue to contribute my time and energies wherever I am needed,” Huffman said. “My hope now is that my family, my friends and my community will forgive me for my actions.”

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
The funny thing, though, is I doubt she knew this was a federal crime when she did it.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
The funny thing, though, is I doubt she knew this was a federal crime when she did it.

I didn't know that either.

Is receiving the payment also a federal crime?

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
I think a month is the bare minimum. Had she been a regular person, she would have gotten much more time.

Two weeks is a bad vacation. One month is a prison sentence.

The funny thing, though, is I doubt she knew this was a federal crime when she did it. Had you asked me before the scandal whether it was a federal crime to pay somebody to boost your kid's score, I would have said, "Um, I dunno, but it should be."

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:

These people won't do hard time

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Calm down, Quirt. A recommendation for jail time is just a recommendation.

Nobody has spent a day in jail. It’s a little early for “I told you so.”

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
So are the coaches going to jail as well? Big fines?

I've heard only that a couple of them got fired.

quote:

Following Felicity Huffman’s conviction in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal, lawyers for the actress requested she spend her two-week sentence at a minimum-security, cushy northern California prison.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons will make the ultimate decision, but Huffman’s attorney argued she should be housed at the Federal Correctional Institution at Dublin, Calif., during her stint in the big house so she can see her family.

Attorney Martin Murphy asked Judge Indira Talwani to let Huffman stay at the prison, the closest to her residence.

The Dublin facility was listed as one of Forbes’ 10 cushiest prisons in 2009 saying “proximity to the Bay Area means gorgeous weather and easy travel options for visitors.”

Visitors are allowing between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, according to the federal prison’s handbook.