Angry mother sues Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman alleging son couldn't get into college amid cheating scandal
A Californian woman has filed a $500 billion (£377 billion) lawsuit against actresses, Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, following the college admissions cheating scandal.
Jennifer Toy is suing the parents on behalf of her son, Joshua, who allegedly received a 4.2 Grade Point Average (GPA), but was rejected from "some" of the colleges involved for an "undisclosed reason".
In court documents obtained by Deadline, the teacher filed the class-action suit in San Francisco County Superior Court on the 13th March. In it, she accuses Huffman and Loughlin of fraud, causing emotional distress and committing civil conspiracy.
While Toy didn't disclose which establishments her son applied to - Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, USC, UCLA, the University of Texas and Wake Forest have been implicated in the scandal.=
"Joshua and I [believed] that he’d had a fair chance just like all other applicants but did not make the cut for some undisclosed reason," the paper reads. "I’m now aware of the massive cheating scandal wherein wealthy people conspired with people in positions of power and authority at colleges in order to allow their [children] to gain access to the very [colleges] that Joshua was rejected from."
"I’m outraged and hurt because I feel that my son, my only child, was denied access to a college not because he failed to work and study hard enough but because wealthy individuals felt… it was ok to lie, cheat, steal and bribe their children’s way into a good college," Toy continued.
Last week, news broke that around 40 wealthy people - including Huffman and Loughlin - had been indicted in a $25 million college admissions cheating scheme. Per CNN, who have dubbed the scandal a "national conspiracy", well-off parents had enlisted the help of an illegal college-preparatory programme to get their children into elite private universities.
The publication detailed that 50 people have been arrested following the FBI investigation called "Operation Varsity Blues", including two entrance exam administrators, one exam proctor, nine coaches, one college administrator, and 33 parents.
Good Morning America has reported that documents show that Loughlin and her husband reportedly "agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC."
Following the allegations, USC released the following statement:
"We are aware of the ongoing wide-ranging criminal investigation involving universities nationwide, including USC. USC has not been accused of any wrongdoing and will continue to cooperate fully with the government’s investigation. We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university. USC is conducting an internal investigation and will take employment actions as appropriate. USC is in the process of identifying any funds received by the university in connection with this alleged scheme. Additionally, the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward."