College Admissions Bribe Scandal to Become a Television Series

Annapurna Television has announced that it will develop a television series based on the infamous college admissions scandal that unfolded over the past few months. The show will follow the plot of an upcoming book entitled, Accepted.

Actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin might actually get the chance to play themselves in a television role, now that Annapurna Television has announced it will be producing a new limited TV series on the college admissions scandal that engulfed the Hollywood stars, as well as many other prominent parents.

Annapurna Television announced on Tuesday its plan to develop the college admissions scandal into a TV series, adding that the show will be based on an upcoming non-fiction book, entitled, “Accepted,” which will be authored by reporters Melissa Korn and Jen Levitz, as first reported by Collider. Accepted will be published by Portfolio, a division of Penguin Random House.

D.V. DeVincentis, who was the executive producer for on The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, has been enlisted to adapt the book for television. In addition, Sue Naegle, Ali Krug, and Patrich Chu of Annapurna Television will produce the series.

The college admissions scandal, which had swept up so many parents, was centered around one California man, William “Rick” Singer, who is alleged to have orchestrated the bribery scandal after financier Morrie Tobin tipped off federal investigators of potential wrongdoing while he was being investigated over his alleged role in financial fraud.

Singer had allegedly been paid a pre-set amount by parents, and then funneled the money to either an SAT or ACT administrator or a college athletic coach, at which point, the coaches would either create a fake profile that listed the student applicant as an athlete, or exam administrators would hire someone else to take the test or correct the answers for the student.

In April, Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli decided to plead not guilty. Loughlin and Giannulli were charged with paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters admitted to the University of Southern California, and were indicted last month, along with more than a dozen other parents.

It has not yet been announced how many episodes there will be for the upcoming television series or which network or streaming platform will be releasing the show.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo and on Instagram.