Yesterday Felicity Huffman plead guilty for her role in the college bribery scheme and while her apology has garnered mixed reactions, many think that her admission of guilty will lead to a much lighter sentence of about 4 months in federal prison or possibly no prison time at all. On the other side of this is Lori Loughlin, who has not decided to plea just yet but the Full House Actress, along with her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, was hit with an additional charge today in a case that will likely see them face much more prison time than Huffman will see when this all plays out.
The pair were hit with an additional money laundering charge and the move by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts heightens the stakes for the actor and her husband, both of whom are out on a $1,000,000 bail bond. Having appeared in federal court in Boston last week, the new charge indicates that the vice is tightening as the couple are not seeking a deal with the government, yet.
The new money laundering conspiracy charge added to Loughlin’s docket in the second superseding indictment on Tuesday “provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering,” says federal prosecutors. According to TMZ, if the pair do take a deal, prosecutors are still recommending that they serve a minimum of 2 years in federal prison. The punishment is harsher for the duo than that of Huffman because the couple is accused of paying “bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC. This is also a fee they paid up twice in comparison to Huffman’s $15,000 bribe.
The optics on this is another determining factor. Huffman has shown what appears to be genuine remorse and is owning up to it but Loughlin and her husband haven’t been as transparent in terms of owning up to their mistakes. Loughlin has been spotted laughing it up with her daughter after various yoga trips and the actress actually stopped and signed autographs outside of the courthouse when she had to make an appearance last week. Perhaps the severity of the situation hasn’t hit her just yet but perhaps she should take a page from Huffman’s book.
Among the 33 wealthy parents arrested, Huffman and Loughlin are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud, according to the unsealed indictment. The elite schools caught up in the scandal are USC, UCLA, Yale Georgetown, Stanford, University of San Diego, the University of Texas at Austin and Wake Forest University. Along with Loughlin and Giannulli, STX Entertainment and Evolution Media co-founder Bill McGlashan was also slapped with the damning new money laundering charge
