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On Monday, we told you that the wheels of justice were starting to spin in regards to the college cheating scandal after actress Felicity Huffman and 13 other bribing parents made plea deals. They pleaded guilty in an early attempt to get a lesser sentence. It appears that Lori Loughlin did not take advantage of that opportunity because the Full House actress and her husband were indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston on Tuesday.
Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli were among 16 parents indicted for their alleged involvement in the college bribery scam. Loughlin and Giannulli were charged last month with a conspiracy to commit mail fraud, honest services mail and wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that they have added a charge of money laundering against the couple and 14 other defendants involved in the scheme. The Department of Justice said they charged the couple with a “second superseding indictment with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering.”
NBC News: Hollywood Actress Lori Loughlin has been indicted by a federal grand jury and faces charges of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, honest services mail and wire fraud, and a new count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney.
— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) April 9, 2019
TMZ is reporting that all of the parents involved with the college cheating scandal, including Lori Loughlin and her husband, were offered a plea deal, but Loughlin and Giannulli rejected it. The plea deal reportedly would have some prison time attached. Now, Loughlin and Giannulli are looking at even more prison time, at least two years.
Deadline reported that the original charges had a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The new money laundering conspiracy charge added ANOTHER potential 20 years behind bars, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering according to federal prosecutors. That would be a maximum 40-year prison sentence for trying to get your dopey kids into a decent school. Wow.
The parents involved with the nationwide college admissions scandal allegedly paid William “Rick” Singer to use his fake charity to funnel money to college coaches and test proctors to get their children into universities they didn’t deserve to be admitted to. Loughlin and Giannulli allegedly paid bribes totaling $500,000 to Singer in an effort to get their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli into USC.
Other famous parents indicted on the new charge include Michelle Janavs, whose family created Hot Pockets before selling their company; and William McGlashan, who co-founded an investment fund with U2’s Bono in 2017.
Since Operation Varsity Blues was announced last month, 50 people have been charged in the nationwide scam that got undeserving students into top schools such as Yale, Georgetown, Stanford, UCLA, the University of Texas and the University of Southern California. Oh Aunt Becky, what have you done?
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) April 9, 2019
[FoxNews]