The Washington Post - 02.11.2019

A20 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 , 2019

BY SUSAN SVRLUGA

Actress Lori Loughlin and her
husband, fashion designer Mossi-
mo Giannulli, pleaded not guilty
Friday to new charges filed
against them in a college admis-
sions case, according to court
documents.
Loughlin and Giannulli are
among the most prominent of the
dozens of parents accused in the
national admissions scandal
known as Operation Varsity

Blues.

The U.S. attorney for Massa-

chusetts described a scheme in

which wealthy parents paid a

college admissions consultant,

William “Rick” Singer, to secure

fraudulent SAT and ACT scores

for their children and, in some

cases, to falsely portray the chil-

dren as athletic recruits to help

them gain admission to top uni-

versities. Singer has pleaded

guilty to racketeering conspiracy

and other charges in the case.

Loughlin, best known for her

role on the 1990s sitcom “Full

House,” and Giannulli were ac-

cused by prosecutors of paying a

total of $500,000 to Singer to help

their daughters gain admission to

the University of Southern Cali-

fornia as recruited athletes for

the crew team.

Their daughters, Olivia Jade

Giannulli and Isabella Rose Gian-

nulli, are no longer enrolled at

USC, according to school officials.

Loughlin and Giannulli are

facing conspiracy charges includ-

ing mail fraud, money laundering

and federal programs bribery.

The couple had already plead-

ed not guilty to two conspiracy

counts when prosecutors brought

additional charges last month.

On Friday, they asked the judge to

accept their pleas of not guilty to

the new charges.

Attorneys for Loughlin and Gi-

annulli did not immediately re-

spond to requests for comment.

Another actress ensnared in

Varsity Blues, Felicity Huffman,

was released Oct. 25 from a feder-

al prison in Northern California

after spending 11 days there as

part of her sentence for partici-

pating in the test-cheating scam.

Huffman pleaded guilty to

fraud conspiracy uncovered in

the Varsity Blues investigation,

admitting she had paid $15,

in a scheme to inflate the SAT

score of her older daughter. Huff-

man, who starred in the hit televi-

sion series “Desperate House-

wives,” was the first parent to be

sentenced.

She had been sentenced to

14 days. With credit for time

served on the day of her arrest in

March, Huffman was scheduled

to end her term at the low-

security prison for women on a

Sunday. Under what a public in-

formation officer for the Bureau

of Prisons had described as “ordi-

nary procedure,” Huffman was

released before the weekend, re-

sulting in the 11-day term.

This week, a California busi-

nessman became the 12th parent

to be sentenced in connection

with the admissions scandal.

[email protected]

Nick Anderson and Alice Crites

contributed to this report.

Loughlin, husband plead not guilty to new charges

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