Lori Loughlin is expected to surrender to federal authorities in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon in connection to the college admission scam case.
Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are among 33 high-profile parents wanted on Tuesday for participating in a scam to bribe colleges into accepting their children. According to a report by The Blast, Loughlin was not home on Tuesday morning when federal agents visited her home to arrest her and Giannulli.
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Loughlin is reportedly flying back to the city now, with the intention of surrendering to the authorities there. Loughlin was in Canada when her husband was arrested but came home as the news broke. There is no word on why she was up north, but the Hallmark Channel does film many productions in Canada, and Loughlin works with them often.
The Fuller House star’s lawyer, Perry Viscounty, is reportedly fighting for the right to speak with his client before she is taken into custody. The criminal defense attorney is known for his work on the academic side of arbitration.
Loughlin and Giannulli are among 33 parents charged with knowingly paying a college admission consultancy firm to bribe university coaches and standardized test administrators to admit their children. Another high-profile suspect is former Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman. However, Huffman’s husband, William H. Macy, has not been arrested.
In addition to wealthy parents, federal authorities arrested the coaches and administrators who allegedly accepted the bribes. They believe the coaches accepted money to forge athletic profiles for their clients, then admit them on that basis. Likewise, administrators were paid to raise students’ SAT or ACT scores, or else hire proctors to take the tests for the students, falsifying the scores altogether.
Finally, the man at the center of the scandal is William Rick Singer, owner and operator of Edge College and Career Network LLC. Authorities say singer forwarded bribes ranging from thousands of dollars to $6 million to get his clients admitted to schools including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
He faces a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. He will also pay about $1.45 million in fines. Singer pleaded guilty on Tuesday afternoon. Singer’s charges include Racketeering conspiracy, money laundering, tax conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
The parents could also be facing jail time, depending on how the case moves forward. None have had a chance to make a public comment on the case yet.
