These two women could have reacted differently to their arrests — and it’s led them to very different positions at present.
As part of the college admissions scandal, both Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were accused of using illicit, illegal means to get their kids into college.
Felicity accepted responsibility right away, pleading guilty to the charges of paying a test proctor $15k to take her daughter’s completed SAT and beef up the score a bit before sending it off to be graded.
The Desperate Housewives star was sentenced to 14 days of prison — ultimately serving just 11.
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Lori, however, chose to stick with the position she had done nothing wrong. She and hubby Mossimo Giannulli are accused of bribing USC officials with an unbelievable $500,000 to get their daughters fraudulently placed on the crew team roster — ensuring their spots at the school under a conditional athletic acceptance.
They were always going to get it worse than Felicity, even if they had pleaded guilty, due to the amounts involved. Think about the difference between shoplifting a toy car in your pocket and grand theft auto. Same basic crime, but the amounts matter.
However, they pleaded not guilty despite the mountain of evidence against them (including co-conspirators pleading guilty and being caught on tape admitting the crimes) and have found themselves on the wrong side of federal prosecutors ever since.
We’ve heard recently Lori wanted to change her mind and plead guilty instead — but her fashion designer hubby put his foot down, and that was that, according to reports.
But this week Aunt Becky is getting a chance to see what would have been, thanks to a man named Toby McFarlane.
The real estate exec was charged with a crime almost precisely mirroring the one Lori is charged with, paying $450,000 to USC officials to get his two children put on sports team rosters they didn’t earn. McFarlane, however, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and got his sentence Thursday…
Six months.
That’s what Lori could have gotten.
Understandably, the Full House star is not too happy with how things turned out. A source tells People:
“There’s a similarity to the cases. And they’re smart enough to see that. So they’re very concerned. If this guy pleaded guilty and was still given six months, what does that mean for them? If they’re convicted, their sentences are going to be very severe. Also, they face more charges than Mr. McFarlane did. They’re very discouraged.”
Yep.
It’s always worse getting convicted than getting a plea deal. And they’ve since had charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering and federal program bribery lobbed at them. They could potentially go to prison for the rest of their lives! (Though let’s face it, the maximum sentences are highly unlikely; even if prosecutors want to make an example, they don’t get to make that call in the end.)
Will this change Lori’s mind? Will she try to get herself a deal after all… even if it means testifying against Moss??
Meanwhile, Felicity is already putting all this stress behind her.
According to a source spilling to Us Weekly, William H. Macy‘s beloved wife has really “committed” herself to the community service she’s doing.
She was sentenced to 250 hours, and she’s spending it at the Teen Project, a nonprofit which looks after homeless teens and sex-trafficking survivors.
The insider says:
“There was definitely apprehension that Felicity felt from the staff, because no one knew how seriously Felicity was going to take this. Most people just show, do the hours, and leave. They aren’t engaged and fully present. Felicity is the opposite.”
However, Felicity has embraced the spirit of charity and has “taken a genuine interest in the young women,” per the source, and is “trying to make a positive impact on their lives.”
Meanwhile Lori is left to think about how to help herself. Like we said, two very different paths…
[Image via FayesVision/WENN.]
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