Lori Loughlin & Other Parents In College Admissions Scam Indicted On New Bribery Charge

On Tuesday, the office of Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts of the Department of Justice, announced that the actress Lori Loughlin and 10 other parents who has been accused in a massive college admissions scandal are facing additional charges.

A grand jury in the District of Massachusetts brought the new charges against 11 of the 15 parents accused in the case, including Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, scheming to commit federal program bribery by paying employees at the University of Southern California to admit the defendants’ children as athletic recruits or other favored admissions categories. One of those parents, John Wilson of Lynnfield, is charged with two additional charges of bribery conspiracy for allegedly paying to get his children admitted to Harvard University and Stanford University.

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“Today’s charges are the result of ongoing investigation in the nationwide college admissions case,” Lelling said in a statement. “Our goal from the beginning has been to hold the defendants fully accountable for corrupting the college admissions process through cheating, bribery and fraud. The superseding indictments will further that effort.”

Seven university coaches and other university officials also face new charges
of conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud as well as honest services mail and wire fraud. Three of them, former USC athletics administrator Donna Heinel, former Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, and former UCLA men’s soccer coach Jorge Salcedo, face additional charges of committing federal program bribery.

Meanwhile, Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman started serving a 14-day term in prison last week after entering a guilty plea in the scandal.

Loughlin, Giannulli and the others arraigned face up to 10 years in prison for the federal programs bribery charge, as well as three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

An arraignment date has not yet been set for these new charges, Loughlin is currently anticipating her next court date on the previous counts.