Hollywood College Bribery Scandal Charges “Full House” Actress
Mar 22, 2019
Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were charged in a college bribery scam on March 12. Both women are alleged to have paid thousands of dollars to guarantee their children’s acceptance into elite colleges and universities. Who would’ve thought Loughlin, a prestigious “Full House” star, might partake in bribery and cheating schemes?
The charges don’t stop at swindling antics, according to People magazine. Both Loughlin and Huffman are also charged with participating in college entrance exam cheating scams, in which a proctor allegedly helped their daughters fudge answers in ACT and SAT tests. In Huffman’s case, the exam proctor is said to have been paid more than $15,000 to correct her child’s exam.
While Loughlin, Huffman and acceptance exam proctors are clearly in the wrong if they did these things, athletic coaches from colleges and universities would seem to share some blame. Staff from Stanford and Yale were supposedly implicated in the case, and have since been terminated. Both universities, as well as the University of Southern California, are willingly participating in the government’s investigation.
According to People magazine, Loughlin allegedly gave $500,000 to have her children designated as crew team recruits, even though they’d never been on or joined a rowing team. In fact, USC’s head sailing coach is suspected of having accepted some sort of bribe.
As for the children (now college students), Loughlin’s daughters Isabella Rose and YouTube star Olivia Jade apparently had no interest in attending college. In fact, in a recent video from Olivia Jade, she explained how she was looking forward to the more fun aspects of college life and planned to disregard her academics completely, having no interests in the actual school portion.
“I don’t know how much of school I’m gonna attend,” Olivia Jade said in the video, “But I’m gonna go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying … I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.”
However, there are serious consequences for both the parents and children involved in the alleged scam. Last week, Olivia Jade lost her partnerships with Tresemme and Sephora, two brands she planned to heavily advertise on social media, according to People. Loughlin was also fired from the Hallmark Channel due to these allegations, which has been her main acting gig over the past few years.
At the very least, this case shows that fame and fortune can only take you so far. According to Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, “There can be no separate college admissions system for the wealthy, and I’ll add that there will not be a separate criminal justice system either.”
Dozens of other Hollywood stars are being investigated, according to NBC, though their names have yet to be disclosed. It could take weeks to watch this college admissions scam unfold in its entirety.
Editors Note: Information was collected from NBC News and People.