Update (August 21, 2020): Actress Lori Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison after she was charged by federal authorities for her involvement in a college admissions scandal in 2019.
The Fuller House actress will be required to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 150 hours of community service, according to CNN. Her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who was also indicted on charges in 2019, was sentenced to five months in prison with a financial penalty and community service hours.
Giannulli will be expected to serve two years of supervised release.
"I deeply regret the harm that my actions have caused my daughters, my wife and others," Giannulli said. "I take full responsibility for my conduct. I'm ready to accept the consequences and move forward with the lessons I've learned from this experience."
The two were accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters accepted into the University of Southern California and were charged with conspiracy and mail fraud.
The couple initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but later decided to take a plea deal, according to People.
The high-profile case drew a comparison to two Black mothers who were punished for attempting to enroll their children into schools outside their home districts, as Blavity previously reported. Tanya McDowell was sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to enroll her children in school using a friend's address.
At the time, McDowell was experiencing homeless and did not have an address of her own.
Similarly, Kelley Williams-Bolar served nine days behind bars for using her dad's address to help her daughter get into a high-performing school in a suburban neighborhood. Williams-Bolar was forced to serve two years of probation, complete community service and pay $30,000 in back tuition.
Original (April 9, 2019): Lori Loughlin has been indicted by a federal jury for her role in the college admissions scandal.
On Tuesday, 16 of the 33 parents, including Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli, were indicted in Boston for their involvement in the college admissions case that rocked the nation, reports USA Today.
On Monday, Felicity Huffman agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud. Huffman was among 13 others who pleaded guilty, but the Fuller House actress and her husband were not on the list of those who negotiated with the Justice Department.
Huffman released a statement admitting her role in William Singer's massive college admissions scam in which 50 wealthy, influential people have been implicated. Prosecutors say Huffman and her husband, who was not charged, paid Singer $15,000 to allow her daughter to cheat on the SAT.
"I am pleading guilty to the charge brought against me by the United States Attorney's Office. I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done," Huffman wrote in a press statement.
"I want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly."
Huffman was on the lower end of bribes discovered in the probe, as were many of the others who pleaded guilty on Monday.
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Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli spent $500,000 to get their daughters admission into the University of Southern California as rowers on the crew team. Neither daughter was able to row at all.
The U.S. Attorney's Boston office stated the 16 parents were all charged in a "second superseding indictment with conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to use bribery to cheat on college entrance exams and to facilitate their children’s admission to selective colleges and universities as purported athletic recruits."
The case has started a public conversation about college admissions and the ways wealthier kids are given a leg up in the process. Both Loughlin and Huffman were criticized last week for shaking hands with fans and smiling before their court appearance.
"The conspiracy involved bribing SAT and ACT exam administrators to allow a test taker to secretly take college entrance exams in place of students, or to correct the students' answers after they had taken the exam, and bribing university athletic coaches and administrators to facilitate the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits," the Justice Department said.
