Boston — Actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have been hit with a new charge in the sweeping college admissions bribery case. Loughlin and Giannulli were among 16 prominent parents indicted Tuesday on a charge of money laundering conspiracy.
The parents were arrested last month on a single charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as crew team recruits, even though neither of them played the sport. They have not publicly commented on the allegations.
Trending News
The new charges come a day after actress Felicity Huffman and a dozen other parents announced they would plead guilty to the scam. Experts said Monday’s plea deals are putting legal pressure on Loughlin and other parents who’ve yet to cooperate with prosecutors.
“Felicity Huffman pleading guilty and giving such a perfect statement of remorse and contrition is a very bad sign for Lori Loughlin … If you go forward and fight this case you really could wind up with a sentence that is a lot of time in prison,” said CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman.
“By having all these guilty pleas at one time … it’s to send a message out there to the remaining defendants that you better get in here and you better get in here quick.”
