BOSTON, Mass. — “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman is expected to learn her fate Friday in Boston federal court, where she’ll be sentenced for her role in the college admissions scandal that rocked the nation.
Prosecutors want the mother of two to spend a month in jail and pay a $20,000 fine, while her attorneys are begging a judge to sentence her to probation, a $20,000 fine and 250 hours of community service.
She’ll be the first parent sentenced as part of what the feds have said is the largest admissions scam ever prosecuted — ensnaring some 50 parents, coaches and testing administrators across the nation.
Huffman admitted earlier this year to paying admissions fixer William “Rick” Singer $15,000 in order to inflate her elder daughter’s SAT scores. She pleaded guilty in May to charges of mail fraud and honest services fraud.
Her husband, actor William H. Macy, was not charged. He and former cast member Eva Longoria wrote letters in support of Huffman.
In a letter submitted to the judge last week, the 56-year-old actress herself said she found motherhood “bewildering,” and was “haunted” by her decision to enlist Singer.
“In my desperation to be a good mother I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot,” she wrote.
Yet prosecutors want her to do at least some time, saying her conduct was “deliberate and manifestly criminal.”
Her sentencing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.