5/21/2020
By Ivan Pereira
Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to a plea deal in connection with their involvement in the so-called “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.
The “Full House” actress will be sentenced to serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service, while her husband, a fashion designer, will be sentenced to serve five months in prison, a $250,000 fine and two years of supervised release with 250 hours of community service, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Massachusetts.
They will enter their guilty pleas on conspiracy charges on Friday via video conference, according to the office. There is a provision in the plea agreement to wait at least 90 days after the judge imposes their sentence before they are sent to prison.
“We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions,” said United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling in a press release.
An attorney representing the couple declined to comment to ABC News about the deal.
With this, the couple is becoming the 23rd and 24th suspects to plead guilty to the case, which was announced last year. Loughlin and Giannulli were accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as rowers, even though they weren’t athletes.
The couple was slated to go to trial in October for their charges.
They were among 50 suspects charged in the investigation dubbed Varsity Blues, which found wealthy parents who cheated college applications and entrance exams to get their children into elite schools. In some cases, parents bribed coaches who falsified students’ athletics histories, including an instance where a real athlete’s photo was manipulated to look like one of the students, prosecutors said.
In other cases parents paid for stand-ins to take entrance exams, according to prosecutors. The scandal took place between 2011 and 2018 and was spearheaded by William “Rick” Singer, who pleaded guilty and helped the FBI investigate the parents.
He set up the system where parents would pay their bribes and cheating services, according to prosecutors. Singer was sentenced to three years of supervised release by the judge in exchange for his plea deal.
“Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman pleaded guilty to her role in the conspiracy and served nearly two weeks in prison.
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.
