Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin's husband Mossimo Giannulli are both released from custody after making their first court appearances in the massive college cheating scandal:
* Huffman, Loughlin, and Giannulli are among 50 people who have been accused of paying bribes to get their children into
America's top colleges
* The Desperate Housewives star allegedly paid $15,000 to arrange for someone to secretly change her daughter's
answers during the SAT exam
* Loughlin and husband allegedly agreed to pay bribes of $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated
as recruits to USC crew
* Huffman was released on $250,000 bond and had to surrender her passport
* Giannulli was released on $1million bond, had to put up their house as collateral
Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin's husband Mossimo Giannulli have been released from custody after they were charged in a massive college admissions scandal.
Huffman and Giannulli are among 50 people, including Loughlin, who have been accused of paying bribes to get their children into America's top colleges.
The Desperate Housewives star was released on $250,000 bond on Tuesday.
Huffman allegedly paid $15,000, which she disguised as a charitable donation, to arrange for someone to change her daughter's answers during the SAT exams.
Charging documents state that both Huffman and her husband, actor William H Macy, agreed to the plan to help daughters Sofia, 18. They allegedly discussed using it again for their daughter Georgia, 16, but decided against it.
The scheme worked in several ways. First, parents would pay obtain a medical document which said their child needed extra time to complete either their SAT or ACT test. Once they got it, they would take the test in one of two centers that was controlled by the scheme's 'mastermind' Rick Singer. One was in Hollywood and one was in Texas.
Singer paid off Mark Riddell, a 'really smart' Florida college prep teacher who would fly to the test locations when a child was due to take it and either sit it for them or correct their answers once they had finished. The doctored tests were then sent on to be graded.
The second part of the scheme involved creating fake athlete profiles for kids to get them athletic scholarships to schools they would not have gotten into on their grades alone.
Singer allegedly had several sports coaches from various colleges around the US on his pay roll to facilitate this part of the scheme. Once the child got into their desired college based on the lie, the paid-off coaches then made excuses for why they were not showing up to practices including that they had become injured.
Macy, who was not charged, was in court on Tuesday to support his wife and sat in the front row. Authorities have not disclosed why he was not implicated in the scandal.
Huffman has been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud. A magistrate judge ordered the actress to restrict her travel to the continental US and she surrendered her passport to the court.
Seven Fbi agents showed up to Huffman's Hollywood Hills home at 6am on Tuesday, drew their weapons, and ordered the actress to come out and surrender.
Huffman, Macy, and their two daughters were asleep inside the home when the agents arrived.
One FBI source said that the guns were drawn as a precaution. Huffman was then taken to a federal building and processed by federal marshals.
Loughlin flew to Los Angeles from Canada on Tuesday afternoon and will surrender to authorities on Wednesday morning.
She has likewise been charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Loughlin and Giannulli allegedly paid $500,000 to get their daughters Olivia Jade, 19, and Isabella, 20, into the University of Southern California.
Sources said that FBI agents arrived at Loughlin's home on Tuesday morning, only to find out she was in Vancouver. They took Giannulli in custody.
Giannulli's bond was set at $1million, forcing him to put the family's primary residence up as collateral to guarantee the bond.
The designer also had to surrender his passport to the court.
Loughlin later turned herself in to investigators. She was released from custody after she posted $1million bail on Wednesday.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6802093/Judge-sets-bond-250-000-Felicity-Huffman-college-bribery-scandal.html