Judge urged to OK prison deals for Loughlin, husband

BOSTON — Federal prosecutors urged a judge Monday to accept deals that call for “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin to spend two months in prison and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, to serve five months for paying half a million dollars to bribe their daughters’ way into college.

Ahead of the famous couple’s scheduled sentencing hearings Friday, prosecutors said in court filings that the proposed prison terms are comparable to the sentences other prominent parents charged in the case have received, while accounting for Loughlin and Giannulli’s “repeated and deliberate conduct” and their “decision to allow their children to become complicit in crime.”

Prosecutors called Giannulli “the more active participant in the scheme,” while they said Loughlin “took a less active role, but was nonetheless fully complicit.”

The famous couple pleaded guilty in May to paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits even though neither girl was a rower.

The defense had insisted for more than a year that they believed their payments were legitimate donations and accused prosecutors of hiding crucial evidence that could prove the couple’s innocence because it would undermine their case.

The judge said at their plea hearings that he would decide whether to accept or reject the deals after considering the presentencing report, a document that contains background on defendants and helps guide sentencing decisions.

Unlike most plea agreements, in which the judge remains free to decide the sentence, Loughlin and Giannulli’s were built into their deals so if the judge accepts the agreements, he cannot change the prison term.

Loughlin and Giannulli have not publicly commented since their arrest last year in the case authorities call “Operation Varsity Blues.” The scheme, led by admissions consultant Rick Singer, involved including top businessmen, lawyers and others prominent parents paying huge sums to have people take entrance exams on behalf of their kids or get them into school as fake recruits, authorities said.