Felicity Huffman, Lori Loughlin, 11 parents in college admissions scandal set to appear in court Wednesday

April 3, 2019 6:25 AM PT

Thirteen parents accused in a college admissions scheme, including actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, are scheduled to appear for the first time in federal court in Boston on Wednesday, where a judge will set the conditions of their release.

The parents, all charged with conspiracy to commit fraud, are not expected to enter pleas Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege the parents paid small fortunes to William “Rick” Singer, a Newport Beach college consultant who has pleaded guilty to four felony counts, to sneak their children into top universities with bribes, fake athletic credentials and rig entrance exams.

The first group of parents made appearances Friday. Here are the parents scheduled to appear in court Wednesday:

Gordon Caplan

Caplan, a resident of Greenwich, Conn., and former co-chairman of a top New York City law firm, allegedly paid $75,000 for an accomplice of Singer to correct his daughter’s answers on the ACT. Caplan wired Singer a $25,000 advance that, unbeknownst to him, was controlled by the FBI, according to a 204-page affidavit unsealed last month. Also unbeknownst to Caplan, Singer by then had been cooperating with the government in hopes of getting a lighter sentence. After Caplan’s daughter took the ACT at a West Hollywood school run by an administrator on Singer’s payroll in December 2018, Caplan wired $50,000 to the FBI-controlled account, according to the affidavit.

J. Mossimo Giannulli and Lori Loughlin

The celebrity couple — Giannulli is a fashion designer, Loughlin, an actress — are accused of paying $400,000 in bribes to have their two daughters admitted to USC as recruited rowers, despite neither of them having rowed competitively.

Elizabeth and Manuel Henriquez

Manuel Henriquez, founder and CEO of a publicly traded finance company in Palo Alto, and his wife, Elizabeth, allegedly availed themselves of Singer’s test-rigging and athletic recruiting schemes to get their two daughters into Georgetown and another unnamed university. Instead of paying Singer $75,000 for having his daughter’s SAT doctored, Manuel Henriquez, an alumnus of Northeastern University in Boston and a former member of one of its governing boards, agreed to use his influence to help another child of Singer’s clients get into the school, prosecutors say.

Felicity Huffman

Huffman, an actress of “Desperate Housewives” fame, allegedly paid Singer $15,000 in 2017 for his accomplice — a 36-year-old Harvard graduate — to correct her daughter’s answers on the SAT, according to an FBI affidavit. A year later, she discussed with Singer a similar arrangement for her younger daughter but ultimately decided against it, according to prosecutors. Her husband, actor William H. Macy, was present when Huffman allegedly discussed the cheating with Singer at the couple’s Los Angeles home, and was recorded on wiretaps talking with Singer about the scheme, according to the FBI affidavit. Macy hasn’t been charged.

Toby Macfarlane

An executive at a title insurance company and resident of Del Mar, Macfarlane allegedly paid Singer $200,000 in 2013 to have his daughter admitted to USC as a recruited soccer player, according to an FBI affidavit. Singer sent a falsified athletic profile of the girl to two USC coaches whom he later paid $100,000, prosecutors say. The coaches, then-head coach Ali Khosroshahin and assistant coach Laura Janke, were indicted by a grand jury in Massachusetts and have pleaded not guilty to a racketeering charge. Macfarlane’s daughter graduated from USC in 2018 without playing soccer for the school, according to the FBI affidavit. In 2016, Macfarlane allegedly paid Singer $250,000 to have his son admitted to USC as a recruited basketball player, despite his son’s height — 5 feet-5 — and the fact he did not play on his high school’s varsity basketball team until his senior year, according to the FBI affidavit. Macfarlane’s son was admitted to USC as a student athlete in 2017, prosecutors say, but he attended the school only briefly and dropped out in 2018.

FULL COVERAGE: Dozens charged in connection with college admissions scheme »

Peter Jan “P.J.” Sartorio

Sartorio, who sells frozen burritos and other packaged foods under his brands PJ’s Organics and Nate’s, allegedly paid $15,000 to have his daughter’s answers on the ACT corrected by Singer’s accomplice. Sartorio paid Singer $15,000 in cash, according to an FBI affidavit. When Singer called the Menlo Park, Calif., resident at the direction of the FBI, agents recorded Sartorio on a wiretap expressing his relief that he’d paid cash and hadn’t left a paper trail.

John Wilson

Founder and CEO of a private equity and real estate development firm in Massachusetts, Wilson allegedly paid $220,000 in 2014 to have his son admitted to USC as a water polo recruit, despite the boy never having played the sport, according to the FBI affidavit. Wilson fretted to Singer in an email, quoted in the affidavit, that in USC’s powerhouse water polo program, his son would be “so weak as to be a clear misfit at practice.”

Devin Sloane

Founder and CEO of a water systems company in Los Angeles, Sloane allegedly conspired with Singer to bribe a senior administrator at USC to admit his son to the school as a recruited water polo player. Sloane’s son did not play water polo competitively, but Sloane purchased a water polo ball and cap from Amazon in 2017 and worked with a graphic designer to Photoshop his son’s face and torso onto an image of a water polo match, according to the affidavit. His son was admitted to USC as a water polo recruit. When a counselor at his son’s school, the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks, raised questions — the school does not have a water polo team — Sloane vented to Singer, calling the counselor’s skepticism “outrageous,” according to an email quoted in the affidavit. Sloane paid $250,000 to Singer and USC administrator, Donna Heinel, prosecutors say. Heinel was indicted on a racketeering charge and has pleaded not guilty. Her attorney said the longtime USC official was shocked by the allegations and intends to clear her name in court. In a court filing Tuesday, an attorney for Sloane requested his appearance in court be postponed, indicating Sloane was close to striking a plea agreement with prosecutors. “Mr. Sloane and the Government are currently in discussions that are calculated to resolve this matter without a trial and reasonably expect that will occur,” the attorney wrote. In any deal, prosecutors presumably would require Sloane to plead guilty to the conspiracy charge he faces or a lesser charge.

Homayoun Zadeh

Chair of the periodontology department at USC’s dental school, Zadeh allegedly paid $100,000 to have his daughter admitted to USC as a lacrosse recruit, despite her never having played the sport competitively, according to the FBI affidavit. Zadeh refinanced his Calabasas home to cover the $100,000 payment, which was divvied up between Singer and Heinel, the USC administrator, the affidavit says.

Jane Buckingham

A Los Angeles marketing executive, Buckingham allegedly paid Singer $50,000 for his accomplice to take the ACT in her son’s stead, the affidavit says. Her attorney asked a federal judge on Monday to delay her court appearance by a week, or allow her to appear on Wednesday by video teleconference. The judge has yet to respond to the request.

Bruce Isackson

A Bay Area resident whose wife, Davina Isackson, was also charged in the scandal and appeared in Boston federal court last month, Bruce Isackson allegedly paid Singer more than $500,000 to have his two daughters admitted to UCLA and USC as purported soccer and rowing recruits, according to the FBI affidavit. His older daughter, Lauren Isackson, was a member of UCLA’s elite women’s soccer team for a year, despite never having played competitive soccer, prosecutors say.