Prosecutors in the case against actress Felicity Huffman have recommended a prison term of one month and a fine of $20,000 after Huffman pleaded guilty in the college admissions bribery scam.
The recommendation also asks for a full year of supervised release following the one-month incarceration stint.
Prosecutors mention what they believe were the motivating factors behind Huffman's actions, which include paying an admissions consultant $15,000 to have a proctor correct her older daughter's answers on the SAT. Huffman pleaded guilty in May 2019.
“(Huffman) actions 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. All of them care as much as she does about their children's fortunes. But they don't fake SAT scores and joke about it.”
Huffman's attorneys are requesting that she instead be sentenced to a year of probation, 250 hours of community service and the $20,000 fine.
“Ms. Huffman is deeply remorseful for her crime,” her attorneys wrote in the memorandum. “She recognizes that she deserves to be punished for what she did.”
The memorandum also includes letters of support from actress and former co-star Eva Longoria and Huffman's husband, William H. Macy, as well as her own written statement.
“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,” she wrote in the letter. “I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fair.”
Huffman pleaded guilty in May to fraud charges for paying an admissions consultant $15,000 to have a proctor correct her daughter’s SAT exam answers.
Huffman is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 13 in Boston federal court.
