BOSTON — Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, husband of actress Lori Loughlin, told his accountant that he had to “work the system” to get his older daughter accepted into the University Southern California, prosecutors alleged in a new indictment this week bringing additional bribery charges against the celebrity couple.
Giannulli made the comment in an April 2017 email in which he forwarded a $200,000 invoice passed along to them by Rick Singer, the mastermind of a nationwide admissions scheme, according to prosecutors. The invoice notified them that their “private contribution of $200,000” was now due.
It would be the second installment toward $500,000 that prosecutors say Loughlin and Giannulli paid to get their two daughters admitted into USC as fake crew recruits. Months earlier, the couple paid $50,000 to Donna Heinel, a senior associate athletic director at USC.
“Good news my daughter… is in [U]SC … bad is I had to work the system,” Giannulli wrote to his accountant, according to the indictment.
The couple’s attorney, William Trach, did not reply to a request for comment on the indictment. In court this summer, he argued his clients made “legitimate donations” to a nonprofit led by Singer that supports universities — they did not bribe officials at USC, he said.
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The USC Registrar said this week that the couple’s daughters, Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade Giannulli, are no longer enrolled at the university in the wake of the scandal.
Rick Singer told Mossimo Giannulli to make daughter ‘look like a real athlete’
The new evidence is outlined in a third superseding indictment filed Tuesday that brought new federal programs bribery charges against 11 parents who continue to maintain their innocence in the admissions scandal. Prosecutors have not alleged new actions with the added charge, but they have disclosed previously undisclosed transcripts, emails exchanges and other evidence.
That also includes an August 2016 email from Singer to Giannulli and Loughlin in which Singer asked for their older daughter’s transcript, test scores and to get her pictured on a rowing machine in workout clothes “like a real athlete.” Singer sought to use the photo to create a fabricated coxswain portfolio for her.
“Fantastic,” Giannulli replied back. “Will get all.”
School’s out: Lori Loughlin’s daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, are no longer USC students
In September 2016, Giannulli sent Singer an email attaching a photograph of his older daughter on an ergometer, prosecutors say.
After their older daughter was accepted into USC, prosecutors say Giannulli emailed Singer thanking him for his work and copied Loughlin.
“I want to thank you again for your great work with [our older daughter], she is very excited and both Lori and I are very appreciative of your efforts and end result!” Giannulli wrote, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say Singer responded by asking if there was a “similar need anywhere so we do not lose a spot” for their younger daughter.
Loughlin, according to prosecutors, replied: “Yes USC for [our younger daughter]!”
Over the next year, prosecutors have alleged Loughlin and Giannulli paid for the same recruitment scheme for their younger daughter to get into USC.
Parents charged in the “Varsity Blues” scandal are accused of making significant payments to Singer, a college admissions counselor, to either have someone fix the ACT or SAT text scores of their children or have them tagged as fake athletic recruits to fraudulently get them admitted through a “side door” into college.
Loughlin and Mossimo are among 16 parents still fighting charges out of 35 parents charged. Fifty-two overall defendants, including colleges coaches, were charged with crimes in the case, 29 of whom have pleaded guilty. That includes 19 parents.
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Eleven of the parents have been sentenced for their crimes. All but one has received prison time. Among them is Felicity Huffman, who is serving a 14-day prison sentence at a federal prison in Dublin, California. She’s set for release Friday.
Prosecutors have ratcheted up their pressure against defendants, looking to get more guilty pleas ahead of possible trials in 2020.
The new federal programs bribery charges mark the second time prosecutors have brought additional charges to parents who have not pleaded guilty. In the spring, they brought money laundering charges to go along with fraud conspiracy charges that kicked off the government’s case in March.
Reach Joey Garrison on Twitter @joeygarrison.
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