Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin face felony fraud charges in college admissions scam

March 12, 2019

by John Larson

Two famous actresses—Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives,” “American Crime”) and Lori Loughlin (“Full House,” “Fuller House”)—are among the approximately 50 people being charged with felony fraud charges for a college admissions scam that the Justice Department calls the largest college admissions sting in U.S. history.

In a press conference held in Boston on March 12, officials for the United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts said that the FBI investigation, which started in 2018, involved fraudulent activities dating back to 2011 by a wide-reaching network led by William “Rick” Singer. Law enforcement says that parents paid Singer fees ranging from $15,000 to $6 million to falsify admission applications for their children so the kids could get into elite universities such as Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California (USC). Singer operated the Edge College & Career Network, also known as The Key; he has already pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities.

The scams included falsification of SAT and ACT scores and lying about enrollment in sports programs in order to gain admission into these universities. According to the U.S. Attorney, the fraud included the willing participation of several university employees, such as athletic coaches, who have been arrested as part of the sting. The U.S. Attorney claims that Singer also set up a phony nonprofit charity named Key Worldwide Foundation (based in Newport Beach, California) to launder money that he received from the scams, which could lead to charges of tax fraud for many of those involved.

Isabella Giannulli, Lori Loughlin and Olivia Giannulli at the 2017 Teen Choice Awards at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. (Photo by Scott Kirkland/Fox)

Loughlin and her second husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli (who is also being charged with the same crimes), have two daughters: Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Rose Giannulli. Isabella began attending USC in 2016, while Olivia began attending USC in 2018. Loughlin and her husband are accused of paying up to $500,000 to falsify application documents that lied about Olivia and Isabella being involved in the the sport of crew rowing. Before Olivia started her USC enrollment, she said on her YouTube channel in a video posted on August 14, 2018:  “I don’t know how much of school I’m going to attend. But I’m going to go in and talk to my deans and everyone, and hope that I can try and balance it all. But I do want the experience of, like, game days, partying…I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.”

Huffman and her husband, William H. Macy (who has not been charged in the sting), are both Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated actors. They also have two daughters: Sophia Grace Macy and Georgia Grace Macy, who are currently students in high school. Sophia will graduate from Los Angeles High School of the Arts this year, and it has not been made public if she has been accepted into any colleges. Huffman is accused of paying $15,000 to give Sophia a cheating advantage in her SAT test.

Huffman attended the Putney School, a private boarding high school in Putney, Vermont, and is a 1981 graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. She also attended (but did not graduate from) New York University, Circle in the Square Theatre School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Loughlin’s formal education ended at Hauppauge High School in New York state, where she graduated in 1983.

Loughlin starred in several movies for Hallmark Channel, and it’s unlikely that she will be working with the network again because of this scandal. The most recent TV series she starred in was Netflix’s “Fuller House.” It was announced in February 2019 that the fifth season of “Fuller House” would be the show’s final season. It has not been announced yet when Netflix will begin streaming the last season of “Fuller House.”

Long before the scandal broke, Huffman had already completed filming her role as prosecutor Linda Fairstein in director Ava DuVernay’s 2019 Netflix miniseries “Central Park Five.” The miniseries, which premieres on May 31, is based on the true story of the five black and Latino teenagers who were wrongly convicted of the 1989 rape of a white woman in New York’s Central Park. Ironically, Huffman is now going to experience in real life what it’s like to be prosecuted for a serious crime.

March 15, 2019 UPDATE: Hallmark Channel and Netflix have cut ties with Loughlin. In addition, companies such as Sephora and TRESemmé have ended their relationship with Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade, who was paid to promote various companies on social media. USC has issued a statement that the university will decide the admission status of students involved in this scandal on a “case by case” basis.

April 8, 2019 UPDATE: Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She issued this statement: “I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions,” the statement read. “I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community.”

April 15, 2019 UPDATE: Loughlin and her husband Massimo Giannulli have pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges, and they are reportedly going to be audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Depending on the outcome of the audit, the couple could also be facing addition charges related to tax fraud.

September 13, 2019 UPDATE: Huffman has been sentenced to 14 days in prison. More details are in this Associated Press report.

May 22, 2020 UPDATE: Loughlin has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, while Giannulli pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest-services wire and mail fraud. Loughlin’s plea agreement calls for her to serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine and have two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service. Giannulli’s agreement requires that he serve five months in prison, pay a $250,000 fine and have two years of supervised release with 250 hours of community service.

August 21, 2020 UPDATE: Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison. She will have to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. After she finishes serving her prison sentence, Loughlin will have supervised release for two years.

Jussie Smollett scandal: Fox drops him from ‘Empire’ after his felony arrest

February 22, 2019

by John Larson

Jussie Smollett
Jussie Smollett (Photo by Chris Fragapane/Fox)

Actor/singer Jussie Smollett has been dropped from the Season 5 finale of the Fox drama TV series “Empire,” one day after he was arrested in Chicago for felony charges that include filing a false police report about being the victim of a hate crime. His departure from the show is expected to be permanent. “Empire,” which debuted in 2015, is about the fictional Lyon family, a powerful dynasty in the R&B/hip-hop industry. Smollett, 36, played Jamal Lyon, one of the heirs to the dynasty. Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson play the patriarch and matriarch in the dynasty. Just like his character on “Empire,” Smollett is an openly gay entertainer. Although “Empire” is set in New York City, the show is actually filmed in Chicago. “Empire” is produced by Imagine Television in association with 20th Century Fox Television. Season 5 of “Empire” premieres on March 13, 2019.

“Empire” executive producers Lee Daniels, Danny Strong, Brett Mahoney, Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer released this joint statement on February 22, 2019: “The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us. Jussie has been an important member of our ‘Empire’ family for the past five years and we care about him deeply. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of ‘Jamal’ from the final two episodes of the season.”

Smollett’s scandal began when he claimed that in the early-morning hours (approximately 2 a.m.) of January 29, 2019, he was physically assaulted by two men wearing ski masks while he was walking by himself on a Chicago street near his apartment. He said that the alleged assailants yelled racist and homophobic insults during the assault, poured bleach on him, and put a roped noose around his neck, but he was able to fight them off and get away. He also claimed that the alleged assailants shouted, “This is MAGA country,” implying that they were supporters of President Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again (MAGA)” slogan. Smollett, who was briefly treated for minor injuries at a local hospital, said the reason why he was outside so late on the streets of Chicago in freezing temperature was because he was looking for somewhere to eat. He claimed that he had just left a Subway sandwich shop and was on the phone with his manager when the alleged attack occurred. Smollett’s manager was the one who called the police.

Over the next few weeks, Smollett received an outpouring of support from his colleagues and fans, but his story was called into question by many others when he refused to turn over his cell phone to police. In an interview with ABC News’ Robin Roberts that aired on February 15, 2019, Smollett remained defiant in saying that he was telling the truth about everything. He also said that he didn’t want to give his phone to the police because it had too much private and sensitive information.

Smollett’s story began to unravel on February 15, when Chicago police arrested and then released two Nigerian brothers named Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo, who were known acquaintances of Smollett. The Osundairo brothers were extras on “Empire” and were known to be involved in gym/fitness activities with Smollett. Video surveillance footage was uncovered of the brothers purchasing the same clothing that Smollett described his alleged attackers as wearing during the assault. On February 20, Chicago police announced that Smollett was being charged for filing a false police report (a felony in the state of Illinois) and his arrest was imminent.

After Smollett turned himself in to be arrested on February 21, Chicago police revealed in a press conference that the Osundairo brothers confessed that Smollett paid them (reportedly $3,500) to stage the attack, and that Smollett’s entire story was a hoax aimed at getting him sympathy and publicity because he was unhappy with his “Empire” salary and wanted a raise. (Smollett’s “Empire” salary was reportedly $65,000 per episode.) The Chicago police also said that although they believe that the Osundairo brothers might have caused some of Smollett’s injuries under his orders, most of Smollett’s injuries were “self-inflicted.”

The police also said that Smollett was behind a threatening hate-mail letter that was sent to him on the Chicago set of “Empire” about a week before the alleged attack. When the letter failed to get the reaction that Smollett wanted, police say that he then concocted a plan to stage a physical assault made to look like a hate crime. Smollett’s attorneys say that he is still maintaining his innocence. He has been released on $100,000 bail, and had to surrender his passport.

March 8, 2019 UPDATE: Smollett has been charged with 16 counts of filing a false police report.

March 26, 2019 UPDATE: All charges against Smollett have been dropped. He read this statement outside of a Chicago courthouse after it was announced that the charges were dropped:

“I just made a couple of notes. First of all I want to thank my family, my friends, the incredible people of Chicago and all over the country and the world who have prayed for me , who have supported me and who have showed me so much love. No one will ever know how much that has meant to me and I will be forever grateful. I want you to know that not for a moment was it in vain. I would not be my mother’s son if I was capable of one drop of what I’ve been accused of.

“This has been an incredibly difficult time. Honestly one of the worst of my entire life. But I am a man of faith and I am a man that has knowledge of my history and I would not bring my family, our lives or the movement through a fire like this. I just wouldn’t.”

December 9, 2021 UPDATE: A Chicago jury has found Jussie Smollett guilty of fix of six felony charges of disorderly conduct, for lying to police about being the victim of a hate crime in 2019. The felony charges were re-filed against him after a new district attorney took over the case.

Fyre Festival documentary duel: Two competing movies premiere in the same week

January 14, 2019

by Carla Hay

Fyre Festival

The notorious Fyre Festival is the subject of two documentary films that are premiering in the same week. “Fyre Fraud” (directed by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby) premieres on Hulu on January 14, 2019, while “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened” (directed by Chris Smith) premieres on Netflix on January 18, 2019, in addition to “Fyre” having a limited theatrical release on January 18 in New York City and Los Angeles. Although it’s not unusual for two separate documentary films to cover the same subject, it’s extremely rare for them to premiere in the same week.

Fyre Festival was one of the biggest music-industry frauds of this decade. The event, which was heavily promoted on the Internet, was advertised as a star-studded music festival in the Bahamas, offering a luxury experience that was scheduled to take place over two weekends in late April/early May 2017. Instead, attendees arrived at the festival site to find a garbage-filled area with very little shelter except flimsy tents and limited, substandard food options. Fyre Festival was cancelled one day before it was set to begin, and event founder/promoter Billy McFarland was eventually sentenced to six years in prison for fraud. Hip-hop star Ja Rule, who was advertised as a co-founder of the festival, quickly distanced himself from this disaster after the event was cancelled. Ja Rule issued a public apology, placed all the blame on McFarland, and avoided any criminal prosecution, although he and McFarland had several lawsuits brought against them.

There are sure to be many reviews comparing “Fyre Fraud” and “Fyre.” Hulu is making an effort to give “Fyre Fraud” an advantage by having the movie premiere first, and emphasizing that the film has an exclusive interview with McFarland that was done after the festival was cancelled and before he went to prison. “Fyre Fraud” also has media resources such as Mic (the news site aimed at millennials) and music-industry trade magazine Billboard as executive producers of the film. Meanwhile, Netflix’s “Fyre” has Vice Studios as a media partner in producing the documentary. Based on the official trailers and descriptions each documentary, “Fyre” seems to have a more straight-forward approach to the subject matter, while “Fyre Fraud” aims to take a more scathing look at the sociological circumstances that allowed this fraud to become as big as it was. Hulu describes “Fyre Fraud” as a “true-crime comedy,” which indicates that there will be a mocking tone to the film.

Meanwhile, the directors of each documentary have accused each other of questionable ethics, according to TechCrunch. The “Fyre” team said they turned down McFarland’s demands to be paid for an interview. McFarland eventually went to the “Fyre Fraud” filmmakers, who agreed to pay McFarland a six-figure sum (reportedly between $100,000 to $200,000) to be interviewed for “Fyre Fraud.” Meanwhile, the “Fyre Fraud” team says the ethics of “Fyre” are compromised because the film had executive producer involvement from James Ohliger and Elliot Tebele, two co-founders of Jerry Media, the company that marketed the Fyre Festival. A former Jerry Media employee interviewed in “Fyre Fraud” claims that high-ranking Jerry executives knew early on that the festival was a scam, but willingly perpetuated the scam out of greed. “Fyre” director Smith says that despite Jerry Media’s involvement in the film, he still had separate editorial control and did not shy away from depicting Jerry Media’s responsibility in the Fyre Festival fiasco.

FYRE FRAUD

Here is Hulu’s trailer and description of “Fyre Fraud”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljkaq_he-BU

The Fyre Festival was the defining scam of the millennial generation, at the nexus of social media influence, late-stage capitalism, and morality in the post-truth era. Marketing for the 2017 music event went viral with the help of rapper Ja Rule, instagram stars, and models, but turned epic fail after stranding thousands in the Bahamas. Featuring an exclusive interview with Billy McFarland, the convicted con-man behind the festival; “Fyre Fraud” is a true-crime comedy bolstered by a cast of whistleblowers, victims, and insiders going beyond the spectacle to uncover the power of FOMO and an ecosystem of enablers, driven by profit and a lack of accountability in the digital age.

Emmy™ nominated and Peabody™ award-winning directors Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason executive produce along with Michael Gasparro, The Cinemart, MIC and Billboard.

DIRECTORS STATEMENT:

“Fyre Fraud” is more than the story of a failed music festival in the Bahamas – this dark comedy is a cautionary tale for a generation.

Billy McFarland offers us a window into the mind of a con artist, the insidious charm of the fraudster and how they can capture our imaginations, our investment, and our votes in the age of Trump. McFarland’s staggering ambition metastasized in a petri dish of late-stage capitalism, corporate greed, and predatory branding, all weaponized by our fear of missing out.

Our aim was to set the stage for a strange journey into the moral abyss of our digital age, going beyond the meme to show an ecosystem of enablers, driven by profit and willing to look the other way, for their own gain.

We draw on countless cultural references, on true crime tension, and on humor – but we did not intend to create a toothless comedy about the Fyre Festival. We hope this film can pierce our collective apathy and disrupt our own millennial peers, if only for an instant – to look at these stories for what they truly are, and to halt this algorithm before it devours us whole.

FYRE: THE GREATEST PARTY THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Here is Netflix’s trailer and description of “Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened”:

An exclusive behind the scenes look at the infamous unraveling of the Fyre music festival. Created by Billy McFarland and rapper Ja Rule, Fyre was promoted as a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas featuring bikini-clad supermodels, A-List musical performances and posh amenities. Guests arrived to discover the reality was far from the promises.
Chris Smith, the director behind the Emmy Award Nominated documentary “Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond,” gives a first-hand look into disastrous crash of Fyre as told by the organizers themselves.
Written & Directed by: Chris Smith (“Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond Featuring a Very Special, Contractually Obligated Mention of Tony Clifton” (2017), “American Movie” (1999 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Documentary), “Collapse” (2009)) Produced by Library Films, Jerry Media, Matte Projects VICE Studios, and VICE Studios. Executive Producers: Brett Kincaid, Max Pollack, Matthew Rowean, Gabrielle Bluestone, James Ohliger, Elliot Tebele. Edited by Jon Karmen, Koehler.

 

 

Fyre Music Festival fallout: How a superficial marketing campaign turned into a $100 million fraud lawsuit and countless jokes about those who were conned

May 1, 2017

by John Larson

Fyre Festival

The Fyre Music Festival has already been labeled as one of the worst music-industry scams of the decade. The inaugural event, which was marketed as a luxury experience, mainly for people ages 18 to 35,  was supposed to take place April 28 to April 30  and May 5 to May 7, 2017 at the Exumas in the Bahamas. Blink-182, Tyga, Pusha T, Desiigner and Major Lazer were all at one point or another advertised as Fyre Festival performers.

Instead, the event was cancelled the day before it was supposed to begin and became an example of what not to do in event planning.  A $100 million class-action fraud lawsuit has been filed against festival organizers such as rapper Ja Rule and Billy McFarland, a 25-year-old who has been described in news reports as an “entrepreneur” with no experience working in the music industry.

The people who paid $4,000 to $12,000 each for V.I.P. packages such as transportation by private jet, luxury accommodations on a private beach and gourmet meals, instead showed up and found a site that looked more like a disaster refugee camp, with flimsy tents in a garbage-strewn area, no real security measures and substandard meals that not even homeless shelters would serve. Even for festivalgoers who opted for the non-V.I.P. tickets (which started at about $500 each), the event still cost thousands of dollars if you factor in transportation, food and hotel accommodations.

To make matters worse, many of the festivalgoers (none of whom received the “private jet” transportation if they paid for it) were stranded in the Bahamas for several hours or days as the local airports struggled to keep up with the sudden influx of thousands of people desperate to leave after the festival was cancelled. An estimated 5,000 people paid for Fyre Festival tickets, according to some reports, but the official number still has not been verified. Regardless of how many people bought tickets, even the event’s promoters have admitted there weren’t enough accommodations for festivalgoers.

Much of the marketing for the event was done on the Internet. A promotional video featuring models Bella Hadid, Hailey Baldwin and Emily Ratajkowski showed them and other swimsuit-clad models cavorting on a beach, to obviously try to make people feel that an abundance of sexiness and glamour in a tropical paradise was just waiting for Fyre Festival attendees. Reality TV star/model Kendall Jenner promoted the Fyre Festival on Instagram. To thousands of gullible ticket buyers, having famous models appear in an ad for a first-time music festival had to make the event legitimate.

The backlash on the Internet has been massive, but interestingly, the criticism has been mostly directed at the people who bought tickets, because they’re perceived as spoiled, rich brats who were dumb enough to fall for this con.

Here’s a sampling of comments made on social media:

“This would make for a good Eli Roth horror movie. A bunch of dumb ass rich kids get stranded on the island from hell and get picked off one by one while try to film themselves with selfie sicks and drones.”

“From the organizer, criminal Billy McFarland, who blamed the whole cluster$#%$ on bad weather: ‘Then the wind came, and turned all our five star gourmet food into cheese sandwiches.'”

“That awkward moment you trust a Victoria’s Secret model that there will be actual food.”

“Should have called it the burning money festival.”

“We used to imagine a theme park called Third World World where rich people could briefly experience the life of the poors but Ja Rule made it happen.”

Ja Rule, McFarland and other people associated with the festival have issued public apologies and promised refunds to everyone who bought tickets to this fiasco. McFarland placed much of the blame on “bad weather.” They also claim that they want to do a Fyre Festival in 2018 in the United States instead of the Bahamas. If that should ever happen, there are plenty of people who’ve declared on social media and elsewhere that they would still buy tickets for it. And that says a lot about why people got conned in the first place.

May 5, 2017 UPDATE: A $5 million class-action lawsuit has been filed against the organizers and public-relations companies of Fyre Festival. The law firm Greenspoon Marder filed the complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida on behalf of all ticket purchasers.

The following is an excerpt from a Greenspoon Marder press release:

This will be the first lawsuit filed against the organizers of the Fyre Festival in the Southern District of Florida – a region considered to be the “hub” for Fyre Festival. To attend the festival, all festival-goers were required to take a flight from Miami to the Bahamas. Further, while the event was supposed to take place in the Bahamas, the tickets list the location of the event as a Florida address.

This is also the first lawsuit to address the Defendants’ efforts to escape liability by offering a vague, unknown refund. On April 30, 2017, ticket purchasers received an email containing a link where the consumer can “apply” for a refund – notably without a guarantee that a refund will actually be provided. Ticket purchasers were then required to fill out a vague, lengthy multi-question application form, which also failed to advise the potential class of their litigation rights. The Rule 23(d) Motion to Limit Communications is designed to protect the Plaintiffs and potential class members from misleading communications such as the April 30 refund email that seek to unfairly deprive them of their legal rights and reimbursement of all of the costs they incurred and damages they suffered.

This lawsuit is also the first to name as Defendants the Public Relations agencies representing Fyre Festival. Hired to coordinate Fyre Festival’s marketing and advertising campaign, 42West and Matte Projects knew or should have known that their advertisements and promotions were false and likely to mislead consumers.

March 9, 2018 UPDATE: Fyre Festival founder Billy McFarland has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and has been fined $62 million by a Manhattan federal court. He was arrested in June 2017 for the crime. While out on bail for the Fyre Festival scam, McFarland was busted for fraud again, this time for selling fake tickets to events such as the Met Gala and Burning Man. He pleaded guilty to that crime in October 2017.

October 11, 2018 UPDATE: McFarland has been sentenced to six years in prison for fraud. He had faced up to 20 years in prison.

 

 

Copyright 2017-2025 Culture Mix
CULTURE MIX