BOSTON: A federal judge on Friday said he would approve a plea agreement that calls for “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin to be sentenced to two months in prison for her part in a U.S. college admissions scam.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston accepted Loughlin’s plea deal shortly before formally sentencing the TV star and after imposing a five-month prison term on her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli.
The famous couple pleaded guilty in May to engaging in a fraud scheme aimed at securing spots for their daughters at the University of Southern California as fake athletic recruits.
Loughlin’s plea deal also calls for her to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. Gorton earlier ordered Giannulli to pay a $250,000 fine and complete 250 hours of community service.
The two are among 55 people charged in a scheme masterminded by consultant William “Rick” Singer, who has admitted to facilitating cheating on college entrance exams and using bribery to secure the admission of children to schools under the guise of being sought-after athletes.
Prosecutors said Loughlin and Giannulli conspired with Singer to fabricate parts of their daughters’ applications for admission to USC so they could be admitted as fake rowing team recruits.
Prosecutors said Giannulli, the “more active” parent in the scheme, also paid $500,000 in purported “donations” as a quid pro quo to induce a USC employee to facilitate the recruitment of daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli.
“This kind of behavior is not just overzealous parenting,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney said during Giannulli’s sentencing. “It is criminal and deserving of the proposed five-month sentence.”
Defense lawyer Sean Berkowitz said Giannulli, who never attended college, ignored “red flags” about Singer, who he turned to for advice in navigating the admissions process, believing he was not a “felon, a huckster or fraud.”
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