In March 2019, social media erupted over what’s commonly known now as the college admissions scandal. You definitely heard about it: A group of wealthy parents—including actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman—were arrested for essentially bribing their children’s way into elite universities. At the center of the controversy was Rick Singer, an admissions coach who developed “side doors” to help students cut corners in the recruitment process…if they paid the right price. In some cases, he’d boost their SAT or ACT scores by hiring someone to take the exams for them. In other, more bizarre ones, he’d bribe a school’s athletic coach to accept a student as a recruit—even if they didn’t play the sport. Both Loughlin and Huffman served jail time for their involvement in the scandal. It was—and still is—a whole thing. 

But why? Why was the the internet so riveted by this story? That’s what Netflix’s new documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, seeks to investigate. And it does this rather unconventionally: The film uses actual FBI transcripts to reenact the timeline of the scandal with actors. (Rick Singer is played by Matthew Modine.) This is intermixed with real interviews and testimonies from the people involved—including John Vandemoer, the only athletic coach who didn’t personally benefit from Singer’s bribes. He put all the money into Stanford’s sailing program (which the university then donated in light of the scandal). 

You’ll learn more about his story when you watch the documentary. You’ll also get an in-depth look at Singer, who, on charisma and tenacity alone, made his way into the elite circle that used his services. You hear testimony from a woman Singer briefly worked with and dated, plus his old coworkers. The consensus is overwhelmingly unanimous: This is a man who had the drive, determination, and deceptive personality to pull off a decades-long scheme like this. 

Because that’s exactly what it was: a scheme. The headlines don’t do what actually happened justice. Response to the college admission scandal was immediate and swift, with people waiting on pins and needles to see how Huffman, Loughlin, and the other parents involved would be sentenced. But what we didn’t fully realize was this was a years-long investigation. Listening to the actual conversations actual parents had about actual bribes is shocking. That they talked so brazenly and cavalierly about committing felonies just speaks to their privilege—and how, in many ways, they thought they were above the law. 

Not only that, they thought their children were entitled to these schools. This film explores the cult of college in detail—specifically how the “good” universities cater to the rich and white. Think about it: Places like Harvard and Yale have preposterous admissions requirements—most notably, near-perfect test scores and GPAs. College Admissions Scandal outlines the cold, cutting businesses in place to help families with these things if they have the disposable income. If they have it. That’s key, because most families don’t. 

While Huffman accepted a plea deal on April 8, the fate of Loughlin’s legal battle is still unknown, as she and Giannulli have yet to agree to a deal and additional charges have been added to their indictments. “She has been in complete denial and thought maybe she could skate by,” a source told E!. “She refused to accept any jail time and thought the D.A. was bluffing. She was adamant she wouldn’t do any jail time.”

“Lori is finally realizing just how serious this is,” the source continues. “She is seeing the light that she will do jail time and is freaking out.”

TMZ broke the news on Monday, April 15, that both Loughlin and Giannulli are pleading not guilty to all the charges against them in this case.

On Monday, May 13, Huffman was back in court to officially plead guilty to paying $15,000 to an admissions consultant and his nonprofit organization, Key Worldwide Foundation. People reports that she appeared in court holding hands with her brother and started crying as she reiterated that her daughter knew nothing about the scheme. She will be sentenced on September 13, but prosecutors recommended four months in prison and a $20,000 fine.

On Monday, June 10, Huffman was spotted attending her daughter Sophia’s high school graduation. Per Us Weekly, she wore a blue floral sundress and appeared to be in good spirits, chatting with friends.

On July 31, a source told Us Weekly that Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose had been kicked out of their sorority at USC. According to the source, both of them were part of Kappa Kappa Gamma, a sorority that includes about 60,000 women across 140 collegiate chapters. However, the organization reportedly removed the sisters amid the scandal “and is trying to distance themselves from the situation as much as possible.”

In the lead-up to Huffman’s sentencing, the former Desperate Housewives actress, along with 27 of her closest friends, including costar Eva Longoria and husband William H. Macy, sent Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts letters in support of the actor and mother, with the hopes of her receiving less jail time. In Huffman’s letter, which was obtained by People and made public on September 6, she explains her involvement in the scam was an accident: Huffman’s daughter Sophia had poor math scores on the SATs, which she believed would prevent her from getting into an acting program.

Ultimately, those poor test scores led Huffman to seek help from a college admissions consultant named Rick Singer, who she says convinced her to commit the crime. She wrote, “To my utter shame, I finally agreed to cheating on Sophia’s SAT scores, and also considered doing the same thing for [her other daughter] Georgia.”

“Please, let me be very clear, I know there is no justification for what I have done. Yes, there is a bigger picture, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because I could have said ‘No’ to cheating on the SAT scores,” Huffman wrote. “I unequivocally take complete responsibility for my actions and will respectfully accept whatever punishment the court deems appropriate.”

She added, “In my desperation to be a good mother I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot. I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fair. I have broken the law, deceived the educational community, betrayed my daughter, and failed my family.”

Macy, her husband of 22 years, wrote a letter that stressed how traumatic the scandal has been for his daughters. He wrote of his youngest daughter Georgia, “After watching the six FBI agents put her handcuffed Mom into a car and drive her away, she cried. The next day she said she wanted to go to school, but as the news of the case became a firestorm she had to come home.” He says his other daughter, Sophia, “still doesn’t like to sleep alone and has nightmares from FBI agents waking her that morning with guns drawn.”

In her letter, Eva Longoria focused on Huffman’s good nature and willingness to bring Longoria, who was new to the entertainment industry at the time of the Desperate Housewives first season, under her wing as a friend. She wrote, “From the first table read of the script, she noticed me sitting alone, scared and unsure of where to go and what to do. Her gentle character and kind heart immediately opened up to me. She approached me, introduced herself and said, ‘Don’t be scared, we will get through this together.’”

“I’ve never gone that long without [talking to my parents]. I’m super close with my parents, especially my mom. She’s, like, my best friend, so it’s definitely been really hard not being able to talk to her. But I know she’s strong and I know it’s a good reflection period. I’m trying to look at the positives in situations, you know? I know it’s a positive. She’s in there right now, and she gets to really rethink everything that happened—kind of figure out when she comes out what she wants to do with what she’s learned through all of this. I think that hopefully will be a blessing in the end.”

On repercussions: 

“I’m not trying to victimize myself. I don’t want pity, I don’t deserve pity. We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like, ‘I recognize I messed up.’ For so long I wasn’t able to talk about this because of the legalities behind it. I never got to say, ‘I’m really sorry that this happened,’ or, ‘I really own that this was a big mess-up on everybody’s part,’ but I think everybody feels that way in my family right now.

“I’ve felt mostly embarrassed and ashamed of everything that’s happened. Things I’ve lost. I guess just from looking as an outsider, you could say I lost brand deals, I lost followers or whatever it was—but I really felt most moved by the fact that we did all of this and were so ignorant. I feel like a huge part of having privilege is not knowing you have privilege.

“When it was happening, it didn’t feel wrong. It didn’t feel like, ‘That’s not fair, a lot of people don’t have that.’ I was in my own little bubble focusing about my comfortable world. I never had to look outside of that bubble.”

On being misunderstood: 

“I also felt very misunderstood. The picture that has been painted of me, I feel like it’s not who I am. I’m not this bratty girl that doesn’t want to change anything. Also, I understand why people are angry, and I understand when people say hurtful things. I think I had to go through the backlash and the stuff because when you read it, you realize that there’s some truth in it. I understood that people were upset and angry and maybe it took me a little bit longer to understand what for. But man, am I glad I did realize what for. Better late than never.” 

On white privilege: 

“I understand that just based on my skin color, I already had my foot in the door, and I was already ahead of everybody else. Going forward, I do want to do stuff to change that. I had a cool experience a few weeks back where I went downtown in the Watts area, and I got to work with some kids in this after-school program. It kind of just shifted my whole mentality because when I was sitting with them and talking to them, they all were so little, but they were so grateful for that education…. I was watching them and thinking about my situation and I took all of that for granted. I didn’t think that I was lucky to have that. I just expected it.”

On whether she was angry when the scandal first happened: 

“To be honest, I wasn’t angry. And I think it’s because I didn’t have a good understanding of what just happened. I didn’t see the wrong in it. One hundred percent, honestly, when it first happened, I didn’t look at it and say, ‘Oh my God, how dare we do this?’ I was like, ‘Why is everybody complaining? I’m confused what we did.’ And that’s embarrassing to admit.” 

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