Federal prosecutors have asked a judge to sentence actress Lori Loughlin to two months in prison and her husband of fashion designer, Mossimo Giannulli, to five months for her roles in a widespread college admission scandal that shook higher education.
The sentencing memo filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts also recommends a fine of $ 250,000 and 250 hours of community service for Giannulli and a fine of $ 150,000 and 100 hours for Loughlin for a scheme to accept her two daughters at the University of Southern California by falsely portraying them as elite athletes.
“The crime Giannulli and Loughlin committed was serious,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin O’Connell wrote in the memo, adding, “They involved both daughters in the fraud, directing them to pose in staged photos for use in fake athletics. profiles and instruct one daughter how to hide the schedule from her high school counselor. “
The couple’s daughters are not accused of crimes stemming from the sin.
A lawyer for the couple did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails Tuesday.
Prosecutors announced in May that Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and postal fraud, and Giannulli to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and postal fraud and fair services wire and postal fraud in connection with the scheme with mastermind Rick Singer.
Giannulli deserves more time behind bars because he was “the more active participant in the scheme”, according to the sentencing memo. “Loughlin took a less active role, but was nonetheless completely complicated.”
The actress and fashion designer will be convicted Friday.
The recommended punishments “account for the seriousness of the crimes, and in particular the repeated and deliberate behavior of Giannulli and Loughlin, their decision to allow their children to become criminals,” the prosecutor’s office said.
While winning their daughters spots at the Private University of Los Angeles, Giannulli and Loughlin falsely portrayed the young women as elite crew athletes who are especially worthy.
Lawyers said the eldest daughter was copied in an email from Giannulli to Singer who took a photo of her posing on a rowing machine.
They also allege that the parents instructed their younger daughter not to answer questions from her high school counselor when he asked about her being marked as a crew member recruit. Giannulli later confronted that adviser “aggressively” and “declared dumbly that (his younger daughter) was a coxswain,” according to the memo.
At the beginning of the investigation into the mass allowed scandal, authorities said they had no interest in going back to one of the children who benefited from the schemes.
Loughlin and fellow actress Felicity Huffman were the two biggest names caught in the scandal.
Huffman served 11 days of a 14-day sentence in October.
Danny Cevallos contributed.
