Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli got very bad news Friday when a judge refused to dismiss the charges against them for their role in the college admissions scandal.
Fox News reported that U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton rejected Loughlin and Giannulli’s bid to throw out their indictment over allegations of misconduct on the part of the FBI agents investigating the case. The judge also refused their attempt to block prosecutors from presenting certain secretly recorded phone calls at trial.
“The Court is satisfied that the government’s counsel has not lied to or attempted to mislead the Court or fabricated evidence,” Gorton stated in his ruling.
Loughlin and Giannulli are set to go to trial in October for allegedly paying $500,000 in bribe money to have their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as members of the crew team, even though neither girl had ever rowed before. The couple, who are each facing 45 years in prison if convicted on all charges, has denied any wrongdoing, claiming that they thought the money was a legitimate donation to the school, rather than a bribe.
THEY WERE CONFIDENT OF A DISMISSAL
Apparently, they were confident the judge would rule in their favor. The more they fight the case, the worse it gets in terms of charges and possible length of imprisonment.
“Lori’s lawyers feel they have a very strong chance of having the charges dismissed because prosecutors withheld key evidence that [mastermind] Rick Singer was pressured by the FBI to lie in the course of his conversations with Lori,” a source close to the couple told Us Weekly earlier in the week. “It was entrapment, misleading a defendant so that Rick could get a favorable sentence for his role. Rick was the mastermind in all of this.”
The allegations of misconduct stem from notes written by Rick Singer, the named mastermind behind the scheme. He claimed in the notes that FBI agents had directed him to lie about how much Loughlin, Giannulli, and the other parents knew about what the money they were handing over would be used for.
“They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where their money was going — to the program, not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment,” Singer wrote, according to court documents.
JUST WANTED TO CORROBORATE, NOT FABRICATE
The judge originally said the notes were “serious and disturbing.” He chided the prosecution for not handing the notes over sooner. Gorton said in his ruling Friday that not handing the notes over was “irresponsible and misguided,” but not “willful.” They just wanted to corroborate and fabricate. The defendants will have “ample opportunity” to cross-examine Singer at trial.
“Whether Singer’s calls in October 2018, were consistent with his prior representations of his ‘program’ and whether they demonstrate that defendants believed their payments to be legitimate donations rather than bribes is an issue squarely for the jury after a trial on the merits,” the judge wrote.
However, nothing changes the fact that the actor and her husband faked the photos of the daughters’ crewing. They also paid a lot of money for the placements — $500,000.
The parents shouldn’t have done it but slapping a possible sentence of 45 years because they wouldn’t cop a plea seems a bit abusive. Every time these parents, who do appear quite guilty, insisted on fighting the charges, the prosecutors added more charges. It seems like punishment for them wanting to exercise their rights. It’s a paper crime but people like Jim Comey go free.
In any case, the parents appear to have no case. However, is this over-prosecution?
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