Lori Loughlin is reportedly “exhausted” by the ongoing college admissions case against her and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli. The prosecution in the case denied the claims the couple made in a motion to dismiss last month earlier this week. Meanwhile, the alleged photos showing daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Bella Giannulli using rowing machines to get into USC as crew recruits have surfaced.
“Lori is exhausted from worrying about this case,” a source close to the former Full House star told Entertainment Tonight. “She hasn’t wavered from her not guilty plea for months. At this point, Lori and her husband have absolutely no plans to make a deal despite the feds’ response to her allegations. The prosecution’s pressure has had no effect. Lori and her husband maintain they made a charitable donation.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The source said Loughlin, 55, is doing well during the coronavirus pandemic, since she has been staying out of the public eye for a year, ever since federal prosecutors announced the indictments after “Operation Varsity Blues.” Social distancing “hasn’t been difficult,” the source said. “She is, of course, very concerned for her family and reminds her [daughters Olivia Jade and Bella] to social distance. She’s become used to being in her home and separating herself from the public. It’s become a safe haven for her during her darkest moments of this scandal.”
Olivia Jane, 20, and Bella, 21, are “closer than ever” and have been getting along with their parents again, the source said. Their parents made the case an “off-limits topic” at home and Loughlin allowed the to use social media again. “In the beginning, they were banned to post anything online, and they felt as if they were being blamed and even punished because of their mother’s mistake,” the source added. “All that is in the past and time has helped to heal.”
Loughlin and Giannulli pleaded not guilty to the charges, and their trial is set to start in October. In March, the couple filed to have the case dismissed, accusing the FBI of entrapment and prosecutors of withholding notes from William “Rick” Singer, the college admissions consultant involved in the scandal, for nine months, past a deadline, reports Variety. On Wednesday, prosecutors admitted they should have handed the notes over earlier, but denied any other wrongdoing.
Prosecutors accused Giannulli and Loughlin of paying Singer $500,000 to get their daughters admitted to USC as crew recruits, even though they did not participate in the sport. Giannulli and Loughlin’s lawyers said the couple thought they were making a charitable donation. However, prosecutors argued that even though Singer and the defendants called the money “donations,” they still understood it as a “bribe.”
“Just because neither Singer nor the defendants actually used the word ‘bribe’ to describe the purported donations doesn’t mean that they were legitimate,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven E. Frank wrote, reports Variety. “They were bribes, regardless of what Singer and the defendants called them, because, as the defendants knew, the corrupt insiders were soliciting the money in exchange for recruiting unqualified students, in violation of their duty of honest services to their employer.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, TMZ published the alleged photos at the center of the scandal, with Olivia Jade and Bella’s faces obscured. Prosecutors allege Giannulli sent Singer an email with Olivia Jade’s photo on Sept. 7, 2016 and another photo with Bella on July 28, 2017. Loughlin was CC’d on the email with Bella’s photo, according to prosecutors.
