Feds’ filing: Loughlin nixed ‘legitimate’ way
LOS ANGELES — A new prosecution filing in the college admissions cheating case targets defense claims by actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, who are accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California in the guise of crew team members, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Hundreds of pages of emails, transcripts of recorded calls and financial and academic records were filed Tuesday in response to claims that prosecutors withheld evidence favorable to the couple.
Loughlin and Giannulli are among dozens of wealthy parents who were charged with participating in schemes organized by college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. Rosen wrote that the couple “specifically rejected this ‘legitimate’ approach,” and pointed to emails between Giannulli and an official in USC’s development office, the Times reported.
The official, whose name was redacted in the documents, offered to “flag” the 2016 application by the fashion designer’s older daughter and asked “if I can be at all helpful in setting up a 1:1 opportunity for her, customized tour of campus for the family, and/or classroom visit.”
Giannulli told the official: “Thanks so much, I think we are squared away.” He forwarded the exchange to his wife and added, “The nicest I’ve been at blowing off somebody.”
Prosecutors allege Giannulli had been conspiring with Singer to pass the daughter off as an elite coxswain for the crew team.
The newly filed documents show that in March 2018 several high schools contacted USC because they were puzzled that certain students were being admitted as recruited athletes, the Times said.
Marymount High School in Los Angeles, which was attended by Loughlin’s two daughters, “doesn’t think either of the students are serious crew participants,” a USC employee wrote in an email.
Donna Heinel, who was the USC athletic department’s third-ranking administrator and is charged with scheming to sneak unqualified students into the university, was asked to investigate and wrote the next day that Loughlin’s younger daughter rowed for a “competitive” club and USC’s coach “thinks she has talent.”
Heinel has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering, fraud and bribery.