LOUGHLIN ADMITS GUILT
Entering plea deal today
There will be no happy Hollywood ending for “Full House” star Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli who are set to plead guilty today via Zoom to cheating to get their kids into college.
The couple and their attorneys did not comment Thursday, while U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling released a brief statement announcing a plea deal for the marquee defendants in the college admissions scandal.
“Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case,” Lelling said. “We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions.”
Loughlin is facing two months in prison. Her fashion designer husband agreed to a five-month term.
Loughlin and Giannulli worked closely with scandal architect Rick Singer, feds say, to arrange fake crew team resumes for their two daughters’ admission to the University of Southern California, ultimately paying $500,000 to complete the fraud.
Prosecutors aired the couple’s dirty laundry earlier this year, revealing Giannulli’s handwritten checks to USC and the couple’s repeated attempts to keep the scheme a secret as high school and college officials began asking questions.
Attorneys fired back, accusing feds repeatedly of misconduct during the lengthy discovery process, specifically withholding evidence and attempting to prosecute the case in the media.
The bickering in court filings continued after a judge set an October trial date, with sparring as recent as last month after feds released images of the daughters using rowing machines, allegedly part of the USC ruse.
The daughters, who no longer attend USC, the university previously confirmed, have remained quiet about the case on social media.
The couple will face federal Judge Nathaniel Gorton at 11:30 a.m. in a video conference at U.S. District Court, and are likely to make their pleas from their homes, as other defendants have done for hearings during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gorton has sentenced four parents in the scandal and ordered massive fines and community service obligations, with prison sentences not far below prosecutors’ recommendations, ranging between five and nine months.
The judge has also rejected parents’ pleas for home detention amid the pandemic, instead delaying their individual prison reporting dates.
Loughlin, who greeted fans and smiled on her way into a federal courtroom past a swarm of fans and media last April in Boston, is expected to receive a sentence far greater than that of fellow “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty two months after the indictments came down last March.
Huffman was sentenced to 14 days in prison by federal Judge Indira Talwani for paying a corrupt test proctor $15,000 to boost her daughter’s SAT score.
Besides prison time, Loughlin has agreed to pay a fine of $150,000 and serve 100 hours of community service; Giannulli will pay a $250,000 penalty and serve 250 hours of community service, under the plea deal.
Loughlin and Giannulli’s plea agreement marks the 32nd and 33rd guilty pleas among the case’s 52 figures, whose remaining defendants are still headed toward trials beginning in the fall and running into 2021.