FILE – This combination photo shows actress Lori Loughlin at the Women’s Cancer Research Fund’s An Unforgettable Evening event in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Feb. 27, 2018, left, and actress Felicity Huffman at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 17, 2018. Loughlin and Huffman are among at least 40 people indicted in a sweeping college admissions bribery scandal. Both have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud and are scheduled to make their initial appearances in Boston federal court. (AP Photo, File)
BOSTON (AP) — Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are expected in court Wednesday to face charges that they participated in a wide-ranging college admissions cheating scam.
The actresses along with Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and dozens of others were charged last month in a scheme in which authorities say parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe college coaches and rig test scores to get their children into elite universities.
Neither Huffman nor Loughlin and Giannulli has publicly commented on the allegations. They and other parents are scheduled to make their first appearances in Boston’s federal court.
Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the sitcom “Full House” in the 1980s and ’90s, and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to have their two daughters labeled as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, even though neither participated in the sport.
Giannulli, whose Mossimo clothing had long been a Target brand, is also scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.
The Hallmark Channel — where Loughlin starred in popular holiday movies and the series “When Calls the Heart” — cut ties with Loughlin a day after her arrest.
Loughlin and Giannulli’s daughter, social media star Olivia Jade Giannulli, has also been dropped from advertising deals with cosmetics retailer Sephora and hair products company TRESemme.
Huffman, the Emmy-winning star of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” is accused of paying $15,000 that she disguised as a charitable donation to cheat on her daughter’s college entrance exam.
Among the other parents expected in the Boston court Wednesday is Gordon Caplan, former co-chairman of the international law firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, based in New York.
Caplan is accused of paying $75,000 to get a test supervisor to correct the answers on his daughter’s ACT exam after she took it. Caplan’s firm said after his arrest that he has been placed on a leave of absence.
The consultant at the center of the scheme, Rick Singer, has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with investigators. Former Yale women’s soccer coach Rudy Meredith has also pleaded guilty.
Several coaches have pleaded not guilty , including tennis coach Gordon Ernst who’s accused of getting $2.7 million in bribes to designate at least 12 applicants as recruits to Georgetown.
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
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