FBI agents reportedly approached Felicity Huffman's door with guns drawn when they took her into custody this morning. The actress was later released on $250,000 bail, Deadline reports. She was also ordered to surrender her passport. Huffman is scheduled to be in Boston court for a preliminary hearing on March 29.
TMZ reports that 7 armed agents showed up with their weapons out over her alleged part in a college admissions cheating scandal. Sources who spoke to the website said that the agents drew their weapons as a precaution when they approached Huffman's Hollywood Hills home at 6 AM.
Huffman was snagged in a scheme to pay proctors to correct answers on the SAT and to get extra time to complete the test. A grand jury indicted the actress on conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud for allegedly making a phony donation of $15,000 in exchange for the good scores for her eldest daughter. She reportedly faces up to five years in prison if found guilty. The operation also allegedly involved Full House actress Lori Loughlin and coaches and athletic directors at the University of Southern California. TMZ also reports that court documents put Huffman's daughter's score a full 400 points higher than her practice test.
USC has terminated both the athletic director and the coach named by law enforcement officials, denying any knowledge of the admissions scheme.
"We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university. USC is conducting an internal investigation. Donna Heinel and Jovan Vavic have been terminated and the university will take additional employment actions as appropriate," the university said in a statement. "Additionally, the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward."
The cheating operation was run by William Rick Singer and reportedly offered families that were willing to pay access to universities around the country. Singer pled guilty to racketeering, money laundering, tax fraud, and obstruction of justice charges.
“All of these things, and many more things, I did,” Singer said, according to CNN. “I created a side door that would guarantee families would get in.”
