You’ve heard it before but former actress Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli allegedly bribed the University of Southern California (USC) $500,000 to admit both of their daughters.
They “donated” the massive amount of money to USC’s Crew Team even though neither one of their daughters are on the team.
And now there’s a shocking new update in the Lori Loughlin college admissions scandal that is simply jaw dropping.
Lori Loughlin is probably the highest profile celebrity of the 51 people who were indicted in a nationwide probe conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A source close to Loughlin and Giannulli reports, “The more that [the attorneys] look at the alleged evidence against them, the better they feel about the case. Everyone is feeling more and more confident that this could end well for them.”
That same insider also claimed to speak with the family regularly and told People Magazine that “A trial drags things out and she would like to move forward, which she can’t do until it goes to trial. But still, she feels like she’s got a valid defense, and that when all the evidence comes out, that she won’t be found guilty.”
But it’s such a schizophrenic storyline because it appears that some days Loughlin and Giannulli are confident and other days they’re terrified because they could spend forty years in prison if they roll the dice and lose the case.
Now Loughlin wants a new plea deal.
According to US Weekly, the actress “has asked her lawyer to negotiate a plea deal that would involve no jail time, but home confinement with monitoring via ankle monitor. She’s willing to pay a substantial fine, over $2 million.”
But unfortunately for the power couple, it’s too little too late. An insider said, “Any deal would involve significant jail time.”
What’s odd though is that Giannulli is not in the same boat as Loughlin and wants to go to trial.
The same insider said, “Moss doesn’t want any plea deal and is expecting to be fully exonerated.”
On Wednesday, a source close to the TV star told People she was “remorseful” and “embarrassed” by the whole ordeal. However, they also admitted she still didn’t think she had done anything wrong.
So which is it?
Does she want to take a plea deal and admit her wrongdoing or does Loughlin still think she didn’t do anything wrong?
She can’t have it both ways.
Remember when that conspiracy to commit money laundering charge got tacked on when she refused the plea deal Felicity Huffman took, which only resulted in four months of jail time.
Loughlin’s minimum sentencing jumped up to four years and nine months. And that would be if she pleaded guilty at that time. After all this time fighting the charges the federal prosecutors likely want to see it through to the end because of the amount of resources they’ve spent thus far.
The source also said, “She’s willing to pay a substantial fine, over $2 million” and is willing to accept a house arrest plea deal.
There’s no way that’s happening. This is the embarrassing attitude rich people have where they believe they’re above the law – as if the laws that apply to the rest of us don’t apply to them.
If convicted or if she accepts a plea deal, Lori Loughlin will spend a lot of time in prison. There’s no question about that.