In a November 2023 interview with KABC-TV, Huffman broke her silence on the Varsity Blues scandal for the first time, saying "It felt like I would be a bad mother if I didn't do it."

Felicity Huffman

Varsity Blues scandal

Main article: Varsity Blues scandal

Huffman was among dozens charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office on March 12, 2019, in a nationwide college entrance exam cheating scandal. Prosecutors alleged that Huffman's $15,000 donation to the Key Worldwide Foundation, ostensibly a charitable contribution, was in fact payment to someone who posed as Huffman's daughter Sophia to take the SAT, receiving a score that showed significant improvement over Sophia's score on the Preliminary SAT (PSAT).

Huffman was arrested at her California home on March 12 by FBI agents and IRS agents and charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud. She appeared on March 13 in Los Angeles Federal Court, where federal agents took her passport and the court released her on $250,000 bail. At her court appearance in Boston on April 3, she acknowledged her rights, charges and maximum possible penalties then waived a pretrial hearing, signed conditions of her release and was allowed to leave.

On April 8, she agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Huffman formally pleaded guilty to honest services fraud on May 13 and to federal charges for paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct SAT questions answered incorrectly by her daughter. On September 13, she was sentenced to 14 days in jail and one year of supervised release, fined $30,000 and ordered to do 250 hours of community service.

She reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California on October 15 to begin her sentence. She was released on October 25, two days early, because October 27 fell on a weekend. As of October 2020, when Huffman completed her full sentence, no charges have been filed against her husband and Sophia's father, actor and director William H. Macy.