Lori Loughlin’s legal troubles in the wake of the college admissions scandal have just gotten worse. The Full House actress is now facing a charge for conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery in addition to previously filed charges for money laundering and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud. The new indictment calls for her sentence to be raised from 40 to 45 years. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, also faces the same new charge in the case alongside 9 other parents. Loughlin, Giannulli, and all 9 other parents have plead not guilty.
Loughlin stands accused of paying $500,000 to William “Rick” Singer, the man at the center of the admissions scandal, to have her two daughters enrolled at USC. Prosecutors allege that Singer used that money to bribe USC’s athletics department to have the daughters recruited by the school’s rowing team, despite neither of them having any background in the sport. Singer plead guilty to charges filed against him, which included money laundering, racketeering, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy, and cooperated with law enforcement to bring the scandal to light.
Speaking on the advent of new charges being filed against Loughlin, United States Attorney Andrew Lelling said, ““Our goal from the beginning has been to hold the defendants fully accountable for corrupting the college admissions process through cheating, bribery and fraud.” He continued, “The superseding indictments will further that effort.”
The new charges come after Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud in May. In conjunction with 250 hours of community service, $30,000 fine, and a year of probation, she received a 14 day pridon sentence, which she is currently serving at a correctional facility in Dublin, California. While Huffman’s charges are less severe than Loughlin’s, it has still been proposed that the latter might follow Huffman’s lead and plead guilty in exchange for a more lenient sentence.