“Full House” star Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty Friday to paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as part of a college admissions bribery scheme, but a judge has not decided whether he’ll accept their plea deals with prosecutors.
Under the proposed deals, Loughlin, 55, hopes to spend two months in prison and Giannulli, 56, is seeking to serve five months. But U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said Friday at the famous couple’s video hearing that he will decide whether to accept or reject the plea deals after further consideration of the presentencing report.
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The famous couple, who appeared on separate video screens, both sitting with a lawyer, made no comments during the hearing other than to answer the judge’s questions.
Both are now scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 21 -- Giannulli at 11 a.m. and Loughlin at 2:30 p.m. Defense attorneys asked for a July 30 date and the judge said he will take it under advisement.
Per their plea agreements, both are expected to serve months of prison time, according to the U.S. attorney‘s office.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The plea deal calls for her to serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine and spend two years of supervised release with community service.
Giannulli pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud. According to the plea agreement, his sentence is expected to be a bit stiffer -- five months in prison, a $250,000 fine and two years of supervised release and community service.
Loughlin and her husband, who announced their plea changes on Thursday, are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty in the college admission scandal.
While others, including fellow actress Felicity Huffman, pleaded guilty almost immediately, the couple continued to deny they did anything wrong.
NBC10 Boston legal analyst Michael Coyne weighed in Thursday on why this plea ultimately came.
"The prosecution initially was looking at many, many months of wanting the defendants to serve because of the excessive amount of the bribe," Coyne said. "I don't think the defendants at that point early on had really gotten their arms around the idea that they were going to have to go to jail."
If and when the judge accepts the plea, the couple must report to prison within 90 days. What remains to be seen is how long they serve due to the pandemic.
