Actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty Monday in a federal court in Boston to charges related to paying a large sum for her daughter to gain admission into college as part of a widespread scandal.
The former "Desperate Housewives" star, who released a statement in April that she would be pleading guilty, was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 13. Prosecutors on Monday recommended that she receive four months in prison.
A tearful Huffman explained in court that her oldest daughter had been seeing a neuropsychologist since she was 8 and had been receiving extra time on tests since she was 11.
"I just didn't want to create the impression that the neuropsychologist had any involvement because she, like my daughter, didn’t have any knowledge of my actions, of what I had done," she said.
Huffman, 56, admitted in her statement last month that she paid at least $15,000 for a proctor to alter answers on her oldest daughter’s SAT to boost her score.
"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,'' she said in her statement.
She is part of a group of more than a dozen parents who have already agreed to plead guilty in connection with the scandal, in which the FBI says scheme mastermind William Rick Singer accepted millions of dollars to help wealthy parents get their children into top universities.
Huffman's husband, actor William H. Macy, has not been charged.
Lori Loughlin, another high-profile actress charged in the scandal, pleaded not guilty last month along with her husband, Mossimo Giannulli.
The "Fuller House" star and her husband were indicted on a charge of money laundering along with conspiracy to commit mail fraud after allegedly paying $500,000 in bribes to help their two daughters get admitted into the University of Southern California.
The scandal is now becoming the subject of a limited TV series based on "Accepted," an upcoming book by Wall Street Journal reporters Melissa Korn and Jennifer Levitz, Deadline reported.