Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli Agree to Plead Guilty in College Admissions Scandal
Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the college admissions scandal, the United States Department of Justice confirmed in a press release on Thursday, May 21.
Loughlin, 55, plans to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, while Giannulli, 56, will plead guilty to conspiracy to comment wire and mail fraud as well, in addition to honest service wire and mail fraud. Their date in court before Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton has yet to be specified.
According to Loughlin’s plea agreement, she has agreed to two months in prison, a $150,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service, depending on the court’s approval. As for Giannulli, he has agreed to five months in prison, a $250,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 250 hours of community service.
“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. We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions,” United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said in the official press release.
Loughlin and Giannulli allegedly “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters (Isabella, 21, and Olivia, 20) designated as recruits to the USC crew team,” according to court documents. Their daughters applied to the university as athletic recruits despite never participating in the sport.
On April 8, federal prosecutors released photographs of the girls posing on athletic equipment that were submitted with their college applications. According to court documents, the images were sent to scandal ring leader Rick Singer in September 2016 and again on July 2017 with the message, “I need all the other information on her so I can finish her résumé and add rowing club …”
Following the release of Bella and Olivia’s fraudulent rowing photos, her daughters “begged” her to “plead guilty or make some kind of deal if it’s not too late,” a source exclusively told In Touch on April 14. “It seems like the case against Lori can’t get any worse, but she still can’t fathom the idea of spending one day behind bars. She seemed to be in denial until the recent photos of her daughters Olivia and Bella rowing, and Mossimo’s personal emails detailing the scam, were presented as evidence,” the insider explained. “It’s not only damaging to her case but embarrassing as hell.”
In March 2019, Loughlin and Mossimo were among the 15 parents indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in connection to the nationwide college admissions scandal. They previously pleaded not guilty to the charges in April 2019 and pleaded not guilty to additional charges of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery in October of that year.
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