GUILTY! Lori Loughlin, Husband ADMITS To College Admission Scandal
Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to plead guilty in the college admission scandal.
In 2019, Lori and Mossimo were accused of paying a man named Rick Singer $500,000 so that their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, could go to the University of Southern California (USC).
Singer, the 58-year-old college admissions scam mastermind, is reportedly involved in numerous misconducts and even occasionally paid off SAT exam monitors to reserve seats at the top universities for teenagers from wealthy families.
Guilty Please
Loughlin and her husband initially denied their involvement in the scheme and even moved to dismiss the charges just two weeks ago. But according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts, the couple finally decided to plead guilty on May 22 at 11:30 a.m.
The 55-year-old actress is facing two months in prison, a $150,000 fine, 100 hours of community service, and two years of supervised release after she pleads guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Meanwhile, her fashion designer husband, is facing almost double of Lori's charges -- five months in prison, a $250,000 fine, 250 hours of community service, and two years of supervised release.
"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," U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling disclosed, per CNN. "We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions."
Previously, Lori and Mossimo had been charged with three counts of conspiracy. They are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the case.
Last year, actress Felicity Huffman also pleaded guilty to conspiracy after she allegedly paid $15,000 to the scam's mastermind to help her daughter cheat on the SATs and boost her test scores.
What Did Lori And Mossimo Do?
In 2019, the couple made noise after their names got included in the long list of celebrities who paid Singer to help them cheat, bribe, and lie in the college admissions process.
Aside from paying half a million dollars for the scheme, they also asked a USC athletics official to allow their daughters to get into the university as members of the crew team even though they have never participated in a rowing tournament.
A part of the scheme made Mossimo send pictures of his daughters to Singer, showing them posing beside indoor rowing machines. The photographs were then used to create fake athletic profiles.
"Good news my daughter ... is in (U)SC... bad is I had to work the system," Mossimo allegedly wrote in an email addressed to his accountant.
The daughters are no longer enrolled at USC since last year, but despite the issues surrounding their family, Olivia unexpectedly returned to her social media accounts in December 2019. This action reportedly caused a rift between her and her mother, as Lori saw her daughter's action as a "big betrayal."
The YouTuber student has reportedly received a script that contained every word she should say in the December clip.
