Lori Loughlin (right) with husband Mossimo Giannulli
Full House actress Lori Loughlin has reported to prison on Friday in the college admissions scandal, a federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) representative told Law&Crime in a brief phone conversation. Online BOP records state the defendant is not in custody, but the spokesperson said that Loughlin is at the Federal Correction Institution, Dublin in California.
The actress-turned-inmate was previously slated to begin her two-month sentence on November 19. She and co-defendant husband, the fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to fraud charges in May. Prosecutors said the couple agreed to pay bribes to get their daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Giannulli designated as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, even though the girls did not compete in the sport.
Loughlin’s husband got the harsher penalty at five months in prison. Prosecutors called him the “more active participant” to get their daughters into the school, but they asserted Loughlin was still complicit.
The federal government’s key witness William “Rick” Singer admitted to being the mastermind in the college admissions scandal. He flipped, turning on parents who paid him to help buy their children’s way into higher education.
“In an e-mail on or about July 24, 2016, Singer advised Giannulli that his older daughter’ s academic qualifications were at or just below the ‘low end’ of USC’s admission standards,” said the complaint. “Thereafter, the Giannullis agreed with [Singer] to use bribes to facilitate her admission to USC as a recruited crew coxswain, even though she did not row competitively or otherwise participate in crew.”
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
[Image via JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP/Getty Images]