Actress Lori Loughlin’s husband, Mossimo Giannulli, was sentenced in federal court on Friday to five months behind bars for his role in the college admission scandal that a judge called “breathtaking fraud”.
Loughlin will also be convicted later Friday afternoon for her role in the scheme to get her daughters admitted to the University of Southern California by falsely portraying them as elite athletes of special value.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and postal fraud in May after more than a year of her and Giannulli fighting with prosecutors over her part in the larger national scandal called “Operation Varsity Blues.”
Giannulli also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and postal fraud and fair services wire and postal fraud in connection with the scheme.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton for the District of Massachusetts shocked Giannulli, telling the suspect that he profited profusely from the privilege.
“I see a lot of drug dealers, cannon runners and people who have committed violent crimes who grew up without role models, sometimes even abused,” Gorton said.
‘You do not steal bread to feed your family. You have no excuse for your crime. That makes it even more guilty. “
Giannulli led “the good life in Southern California,” but still committed a crime “motivated by hubris,” according to the judge.
“You’re an informed, smart, successful businessman,” Gorton said. “You certainly knew something better and yet you helped sponsor a breathtaking fraud on our system of education and involved your wife and your two daughters in merging and merging their ways into a prestigious university.”
Friday’s outburst was a virtual one in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
While Judge Gorton wore a robe and spoke from his courtroom in Boston, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney, Defense Attorney Sean Berkowitz and Giannulli all appeared via computer feeds.
“This is a good man who made terrible mistakes who was a criminal and who accepts full responsibility for those mistakes and crimes,” said Berkowitz, who sat shoulder to shoulder with his client in an office environment.
Despite the scam to get into USC, Berkowitz insisted that the couple’s daughters had strong grades and test results and were allowed to “legitimize” other colleges without Singer’s criminal help.
“I take full responsibility for my behavior and bearing, I am ready to accept the consequences and move forward with the lessons I have learned from this experience,” Giannulli said in his brief statement to the judge.
Before Berkowitz and Giannulli spoke, Kearney said the defendant showed a ‘privileged’ and ‘right’ attitude that should land him right before events.
“This respect for good and evil deserves a meaningful prison sentence,” Kearney said. “This kind of behavior is not just overweight parenting.”
Giannulli was ordered to report to jail on November 19. The defense hopes Giannulli will be sent to a federal lockup in Lompoc, California, located about 150 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Judge Gorton said he would pass on the request for defense to prison officials, who have the final say on where Giannulli will spend his time.
In addition to his prison sentence, Giannulli was ordered Friday to pay a $ 250,000 fine and do 250 hours of community service.
Friday’s conviction comes after federal investigators last year discovered a network of wealthy parents paying thousands of dollars to a man in California who improved their children’s chances of accessing elite colleges.
The scheme was led by William “Rick” Singer, who profited from a consulting and preparation company for colleges. Singer torpedoed the entire operation when he agreed to carry a wire and collaborate with investigators.
A number of other privileged parents were caught in the scandal, including ‘Desperate Housewives’ actress Felicity Huffman.
Huffman served 11 days of a 14-day sentence in October after admitting she had paid for one to proctor and correct her daughter’s college board, resulting in the score jumping 400 points above her PSAT performance to 1420 out of a possible 1600.
In the case of Loughlin and Giannulli, prosecutors alleged that, in addition to falsely presenting their daughters at the university as crew members athletes, the parents instructed their younger daughter not to answer questions from her high school counselor when he asked about recruit their flag as a crew.
Giannulli later confronted the councilor as “aggressive” and “declared dumb that (his younger daughter) was a coxswain,” prosecutors claimed in a condemnation memo.
The memo recommended two months in prison, a $ 150,000 fine and 100 hours of community service for Loughlin.
None of the daughters is accused; they are both no longer enrolled in USC.
This is an evolving story, please refresh here for updates.
