Lori Loughlin, others indicted for money laundering charge in college cheating scandal
On Monday, the college admissions cheating scandal made headlines again when actress Felicity Huffman and other defendants announced their intention to plead guilty to mail fraud charges related to fabricating test scores and athletic backgrounds for their children. Conspicuously missing was Lori Loughlin, the other famous actress who has been entangled in the scandal (a.k.a. Operation Varsity Blues) alongside Huffman. On Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts explained why: Loughlin and 15 other parents had been charged in a second superseding indictment. On top of the mail fraud charge, they’ve been charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Loughlin’s team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from EW.
Both Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are included in the second indictment, along with 14 other parents. (Huffman’s husband, William H. Macy, has not been charged at all in relation to the scandal.) According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the mail fraud charge provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss. The money laundering charge 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.
Sentences will be imposed by a federal district court judge based on sentencing guidelines. An arraignment date has not yet been set.
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