Last Friday, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli appeared (via video link) in a federal court in Boston to plead guilty to a few of the charges in the Operation Varsity Blues case. Lori and Mossimo were the two most high-profile parents who refused to take a proffered plea deal last year. Lori seemed convinced that she could simply leak wholesome stories to People Magazine and magically convince people that she was completely innocent. It looks like federal prosecutors went to Lori and Mossimo again and offered them another plea deal. They took it this time. So this is the deal they worked out, complete with sentencing recommendations from the DOJ:
More than a year after rejecting a plea deal from federal prosecutors, actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, appeared before a federal judge via video conference Friday to plead guilty to charges stemming from the college admissions cheating scandal. However, the judge said he couldn’t accept the pleas until he sees their pre-sentencing reports from the Massachusetts Probation Service.
Loughlin, 55, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud while Giannulli, 56, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud. The couple were the 23rd and 24th parents to admit guilt in the college admissions scandal. During Friday’s hearing, Loughlin rocked side-to-side, occasionally speaking with her lawyer and looking out the window.
Under the terms of the plea agreements, Loughlin will serve two months behind bars and Giannulli agreed to serve five months. The judge scheduled the sentencing hearing for the couple for Aug. 21. In addition, Loughlin was ordered to pay a $150,000 fine and was placed on two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service. Giannulli has to pay a $250,000 fine. He, too, will be on two years of supervised release and must complete 250 hours of community service.
Prosecutors dismissed charges of money laundering and federal programs bribery that were added after the case was initially filed. Had they gone to trial and been convicted, each faced up to 20 years in prison for each charge against them.
People Magazine spoke to someone in Lori’s camp about why they finally decided to make a deal, and that source said: “This was a now or never deal. It was presented as the last clear chance for them to plead before going to trial, and they knew that if they were found guilty, they were realistically looking at more than a year behind bars, probably more like three or four.” I mean, if convicted of just some of the charges, they would have actually faced 10 or 20 years in prison. I would have taken the deal too. Of course, I would never cheat the system to get a kid into college, so there’s that too. As for the sentencing hearing, which isn’t until August, I would hope that all of that means that Lori and Mossimo will actually serve their full sentences and not be released in a matter of days because of the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, People Mag also did a sympathetic piece on Lori’s scamming daughters Olivia Jade and Bella:
A legal insider tells PEOPLE that their daughters Olivia Jade, 20, and Bella, 21, are behind their parents’ decision. “I know that the girls have been very supportive of their parents throughout this whole ordeal and just want them to be happy,” the insider says. “They realize that this was done to help them, and there is no animosity there. Last I knew, they were encouraging their parents to fight this, but obviously that’s all changed now.”
A second source confirms that the whole family is on the same page. “Olivia and Bella also want it to be over. They agree the plea is the best option,” the source explains. “Lori and Mossimo want to be able to enjoy their lives again. They want to enjoy it with Olivia and Bella. They don’t feel like they gave up by accepting a plea — they are doing what’s best for their family.”
LOL, why would Olivia and Bella have animosity towards their parents at all? Why even bring that up? The whole family worked together to scam USC’s college admissions process and only Lori and Mossimo were charged. GMAFB.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Backgrid.
Lawyers taking a page from Felicity’s girls. They were outraged and disappointed. Not so much Olivia and Bella.
Is a judge allowed to delay sentencing for a year? It would be nice to think she has a year to worry about going to prison, and having it affect potential work, be forced to discuss it on TV appearances, and her ability to make money until she has done her time.
I so agree. This deserves a” wait for the worst”. Obv is their atty are jumping on the covid moment as an excuse to get sprung early- painfully transparent?
The top photo of those two empty vessels should be included under the dictionary definition of “vapid”. They thought the offers would get better, but the prosecutors just kept creating more risk for them by adding charges. The prosecutors came to play, and I’m happy that some semblance of justice will be served.
Well said. I hope she is proud of the airheads they have raised, with their perfect tiny little surgeried noses. She looked so proud of Olivia at the Pretty Little Things Event. Girl had no bra on and that shirt barely covered her hoo-ha. That’s not class. Let’s just say Felicity Huffman is much smarter.
Awwwww man. How anticlimactic 😕
They’re mentioning the girls not being mad because they are mad. At least Olivia is/was. She may have participated in the scam, but she didn’t want to go to college. She wanted to be an influencer and was allegedly doing pretty well for herself. Her parents ruined that for her. She had every right to be mad.
Oh poor thing, she was forced to do it! Shouldn’t an “influencer” at least have some original ideas?
At some point there will be an exclusive People cover story featuring a somber LL and a headline with “family” “ healing” “looking ahead” etc. etc.
I’m not too sure if anybody cares about that. Hopefully, after sentencing this whole family disappears for good!
I’m so mad at rich people these days, and this doesn’t help. Instead of jail, this family should be sentenced to a $200 million fine to a fund for Target workers and their families. Minimum.
Lock the whole family up! They are all guilty AF!!!!
I bet the federal prosecutors threatened to charge Olivia & Bella if they didn’t accept the plea deal. I’m sure that the main stipulation on L&M’s part was that their stupid daughters NOT be gone after. To me that always seemed like the prosecutors’ ace-in-the-whole, and what they would threaten L&M with if absolutely everything else was exhausted and L&M were still refusing the plea.
As much as I would have loved to see the whole dumb family behind bars, I do take comfort in knowing that the one daughter’s make-up career has at least temporarily been railroaded, although I certainly hope that her “career” NEVER recovers.
Final thought; does anyone know if all this has affected the sales of the Mossimo brand? Does Target even still carry it??
….meanwhile a person with few (if any) resources is being locked up because of petty theft or having a joint or God forbid an outstanding parking ticket they couldn’t pay, or is suffering from a substance use disorder that desperately needs to be treated by a physician. But yes, by all means justice is allowing these two sorry excuses to walk away with a short sentence in a decent federal prison far away from general population and a pittance of a financial penalty. Same thing with all these people associated with Trump – you can basically defraud an entire institution on a systemic level but as long as you’re not poor, a person of color or acting out of survival because of the way you were brought up you’ll be just fine.