BOSTON – Federal prosecutors asked a judge Monday to accept settlements calling for “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin to spend two months in prison and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, five months for paying half a million dollars. as a bribe to get his daughters into college.
Prior to the sentencing hearings of the famous couple, prosecutors said in court documents that the proposed sentences are comparable to the sentences received by other important parents defendants in the case, while taking into account “deliberate conduct and repeated ”of Loughlin and Giannulli as well as their“ decision to allow their daughters to become accomplices in the crime ”.
Prosecutors called Giannulli “the most active participant in the scheme,” while saying that Loughlin “played a less active role, but was totally complicit anyway.”
The famous couple pleaded guilty in May to paying $ 500,000 for their two daughters to enter the University of Southern California as members of the rowing team, despite neither of them playing the sport.
The defense has insisted for more than a year that the couple believed that the money they paid were legitimate donations and accused prosecutors of hiding crucial evidence that could prove their innocence because it would affect the case.
The judge said in the hearings in which they pleaded guilty that he will decide whether to accept the agreements considering the pre-sentencing report, a document that contains background information and helps make decisions about convictions.
Loughlin and Giannulli have not made public statements since their arrest last year. The scheme they participated in, spearheaded by admissions consultant Rick Singer, involved prominent businessmen, attorneys and other prominent individuals who paid large sums of money for other people to take the entrance exams on behalf of their children or get them to enter. with fraudulent profiles to make them look attractive to college sports teams, authorities said.
Under his plea deal, Giannulli also agreed to pay a $ 250,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service. Loughlin would pay a $ 150,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.
Other parents sentenced to prison for participating in the fraud include “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman. The actress spent two weeks behind bars last year after admitting she paid $ 15,000 to have someone correct her daughter’s entrance exam.
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