Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among dozens of people facing charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scam, according to multiple reports.
ABC News reports that court documents alleged that Huffman “made a purported charitable contribution of $15,000 … to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of her eldest daughter.”
The paperwork also reportedly states that “Huffman later made arrangements to pursue the scheme a second time, for her younger daughter, before deciding not to do so.”
The Desperate Housewives alum, 56, and her husband, Shameless star William H. Macy, share 18-year-old daughter Sofia and 16-year-old daughter Georgia.
Loughlin, for her part, is the mother of daughters Bella, 20, and Olivia Jade, 19, with designer husband Mossimo Giannulli. Both Bella and Olivia attend the University of Southern California, their father’s alma mater.
According to ABC News, the 54-year-old Full House star and Giannulli, 55, “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC.”
While Bella, an aspiring actress, has been featured alongside her mother in multiple Hallmark Christmas movies, Olivia has nearly 2 million subscribers on YouTube and often posts videos about her college life.
ABC News cites documents that claim federal agents have obtained emails from Loughlin indicating her role in the scam and secretly recorded phone calls with Huffman and a cooperating witness.
The outlet adds that officials claim most of the students were unaware that their admission to their respective universities were affected by a bribe.
USC’s President Wanda M. Austin, meanwhile, sent an email to students after the news broke on Tuesday. “I want to inform you of an ongoing wide-ranging criminal investigation involving universities nationwide, including USC. The government has made a public announcement and disseminated the charging documents,” the email reads. “The federal government has alleged that USC is a victim in a scheme perpetrated against the university by a long-time Athletics Department employee, one current coach and three former coaching staff, who were allegedly involved in a college admissions scheme and have been charged by the government on multiple charges.”
Us Weekly has reached out to reps for Huffman and Loughlin.