Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli Receive Prison Time for Involvement in College Admissions Scandal
The wait is over. Lori Loughlin’s husband Mossimo Giannulli was sentenced to five months in prison for his involvement in the nationwide college admissions scandal on Friday, August 21. Loughlin’s sentencing hearing will take place later today.
The judge accepted the agreed-upon sentencing of five months in prison, two years of supervised release, 250 community service hours and a $250,000 fine. Giannulli did not provide any statements to the judge. “I deeply regret the harm that my actions have caused my daughters, my wife and others. I take full responsibility of my conduct,” Giannulli told the judge.
“You are an informed, smart businessman. You certainly knew better,” the judge reprimanded Giannulli for creating a “breathtaking fraud” that affected his family. Giannulli has until November 19 to turn himself in. His defense attorney Sean Berkowitz requested Giannulli to be admitted to the Lompoc Camp. The judge said he would make that recommendation to the Bureau of Prisons.
Berkowitz said, “He regrets deeply bringing his wife into the scheme … The family has been the face of the scandal in the way that is disproportionate to their overall role.”
Later in the day, the judge accepted Loughlin’s plea deal for a two-month prison sentence, two years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service and $150,000 fine. BJ Trach, one of Loughlin’s attorneys, told the judge the crimes the actress committed were “completely out of character” and she is “profoundly sorry for the role she played” in the case. Trach also added Loughlin has been “shunned” by the Hollywood industry due to the scandal.
The actress, 56, widely known for portraying Aunt Becky on the sitcom Full House, and her fashion designer husband, 57, were due in court after federal prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton to “impose the agreed-upon dispositions” that were made when the duo entered their guilty pleas in May.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud at the time, while her spouse pleaded guilty to the same charge, as well as honest services wire and mail fraud.
The plea deals entailed “a term of imprisonment of five months, a $250,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service for Giannulli; and a term of imprisonment of two months, a $150,000 fine, and 100 hours of community service for Loughlin,” according to the sentencing memo obtained by Life & Style on August 17.
Loughlin and Giannulli previously owned up to paying $500,000 to get their daughters Isabella Giannulli, 21, and Olivia Jade Giannulli, 20, accepted into the University of Southern California [USC] as members of the crew team, although the girls never participated in the sport. The father of two was “the more active participant in the scheme,” prosecutors argued in the sentencing memo, while Loughlin “took a less active role, but was nonetheless fully complicit.”
After the couple secured plea deals for their involvement, their daughters finally had “peace of mind,” a source told In Touch in May. “They know that their parents had their best interests at heart when they did what they did, but it was wrong and they got caught,” the insider said at the time. “They should have admitted their guilt from the beginning, but now that they have, they can all move on.”
More recently, Loughlin and Giannulli voluntarily resigned from the elite Bel-Air Country Club in June after some board members voted to suspend their membership in the wake of the scandal.
Loughlin and Giannulli were among 15 other parents arrested in March 2019, after being indicted on charges from the operation dubbed “Varsity Blues.”
