Lori Loughlin, Mossimo Giannulli sentenced in College Admissions Scandal case

Two of the highest-profile defendants in the college admissions scandal, which exposed the rich and famous paying big bucks for scams to get their kids into the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities, were sentenced. Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were sentenced to two and five months respectively by Judge Nathaniel Gorton. The sentences are in line with terms of their plea deals laid out.

Loughlin initially seemed calm, but when it was her turn to address the judge, she forced back tears as she apologized. Loughlin made an awful decision and went along with a plan to give her daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process. And in doing so Loughlin ignored her intuition and allowed herself to be swayed from her moral compass.

Loughlin lost the acting career she spent 40 years building. The famous couple initially pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from $500,000 payments to scam-mastermind William “Rick” Singer to get their daughters, Isabella and Olivia Jade, recruited onto University of Southern California’s crew team. The two never have participated in the sport.

Lori Loughlin and Giannulli shocked many when they changed course and agreed to plead guilty, like fellow celebrity in the scandal, Felicity Huffman.

Huffman served 11 days of a planned two-week sentence for similar crimes. In their plea agreement, Loughlin agreed to serve two months and pay a $150,000 fine along with two years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service. Giannulli would serve five months in prison, pay a $250,000 fine with two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service.

Both Loughlin and Giannulli have 60 days to pay the fine. Loughlin and Giannulli need to report to a facility that has yet to be determined. Assistant United States Attorney Kristen Kearney called Giannulli’s five months sentence appropriate. Kearney dubbed Giannulli’s crime more than just overzealous parenting. Giannulli regrets deeply bringing Loughlin into the scheme.

The scandal has caused the couple’s daughters to be bullied on social media. The crime Loughlin and Giannulli committed was serious. Over the course of two years, Loughlin and Giannulli engaged twice in Singer’s fraudulent scheme. Loughlin and Giannulli involved both their daughters in the fraud, directing them to pose in staged photographs for use in fake athletic profiles and instructing one daughter how to conceal the scheme from her high school counselor.

As between Loughlin and Giannulli, the evidence suggests that he was the more active participant in the scheme.

Giannulli engaged more frequently with Singer, directed the bribe payments, and personally confronted his daughter’s high school counselor to prevent the scheme from being discovered, brazenly lying about his daughter’s athletic abilities. Loughlin took a less active role, but was nonetheless fully complicit, eagerly enlisting Singer a second time for her younger daughter, and coaching her daughter not to say too much to her high school’s legitimate college counselor, lest he catch on to their fraud. Loughlin and Giannulli had previously pleaded not guilty to expanded charges of bribery brought against them along with 11 other parents swept up in the scandal.

The charge of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Loughlin and Giannulli also was hit with charges of money laundering and conspiracy that carried a potential sentence of 40 years if convicted on all of them. In addition to the sentence, Loughlin was fired from roles on both Netflix‘s “Fuller House” and Hallmark’s “When Calls the Heart” after her role in the scandal came to light in 2019.