I am looking for the term {or would like suggestions for how to express this) for the event when one person in a group is to blame for an event and the whole group gives mainly false confessions, in solidarity.

An example: There are 10 people in a group, and Bill breaks something. The president says "Somebody broke this," and one by one each member of the group volunteers that they did it, so the expected consequences are nullified or spread out.