Parents who have pleaded not guilty in the college admissions scam, including Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, now face an additional bribery charge.
What We Know:
- Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to a fake charity to get their two daughters accepted into the University of Southern California by falsely presenting them as crew team recruits.
- In March, the college admission scheme was exposed causing 52 people to be charged with conspiracy fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 29 people, including actress Felicity Huffman, agreed to plead guilty.
- Now, there is a new indictment that charges 11 of the parents in the scandal who did not plead guilty with conspiracy to commit federal program bribery. The new charge accuses the parents of bribing USC employees to get their children admitted to the school.
- In exchange for the bribes, USC coaches and athletic officials allegedly designated the children as recruited athletes, easing their admission, regardless of their athletic ability. The indictment does not allege any new criminal behavior and is based on the same scheme.
- Conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery is punishable by up to five years in prison. The charge of federal programs bribery is defined as a bribe of anything valued of at least $5,000 at an organization that receives more than $10,000 from the federal government.
The parents now face a maximum of up to 45 years in prison for the charges.
