Actress Felicity Huffman expected to plead guilty in college admission scandal

By Christina Maxouris and Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) -- Felicity Huffman is expected to plead guilty Monday to paying $15,000 to a fake charity that facilitated cheating for her daughter's SATs.

The "Desperate Housewives" star could receive up to 20 years in prison.

The charity, associated with Rick Singer, helped wealthy parents cheat on standardized tests for their children. Singer also bribed college coaches to falsely designate students as recruited athletes, smoothing their path to admission, a criminal complaint says.

Huffman and Singer exchanged emails on how to get extra time for her daughter's SAT exam, the complaint says, and arranged for the girl to take the test in a location controlled by an administrator whom Singer had bribed.

Huffman's daughter received an SAT score of 1420 out of a possible 1600 -- about 400 points higher than her Preliminary SAT exam a year earlier.

Huffman later discussed the scheme in a recorded phone call with Singer, the complaint says.

Huffman agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in April. She was among 13 parents who said they would plead guilty in the scam. Seventeen other parents, including actress Lori Loughlin, submitted not guilty pleas. A federal judge will have the final say on the outcome for Huffman and the other defendants.

In exchange for Huffman's plea, federal prosecutors will recommend incarceration at the "low end" of the sentencing range, a $20,000 fine and 12 months of supervised release. They will not bring further charges.

"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 actress said in a statement early April.

"I am ashamed of the pain I have caused my daughter, my family, my friends, my colleagues and the educational community. I want to apologize to them and, especially, I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly."

Huffman's husband, William H. Macy, is not charged in the case.

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