Dreading the day. Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are “terrified” of jail after their sentencing for their parts in the nationwide college admissions scandal in August. A source told E! News on Monday, August 24, that the couple is scared of their time behind bars because they’re worried about the spread of COVID-19 in prison.
“They are terrified about going to jail,” the source said.
Loughlin and Giannulli were sentenced for their part in the college admissions scandal via Zoom on August 21. The Full House alum was sentence to two months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, 100 hours of community service and $150,000 fine by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton. Giannulli, for his part, received five months in federal prison, two years of supervised release, 250 hours of community service and a $250,000 fine. According to E! News’ source, it hasn’t been determined when and where Loughlin and Giannulli will serve their prison time. “Nothing has been decided about where they are serving. That’s up to the government to determine,” the insider said.
In 2019, Loughlin, Giannulli and dozens of others were arrested after accusations that they paid bribes to ensure their children ‘s admission into prestigious universities. Loughlin and Giannulli specifically were accused of paying $500,000 to college “fixer” Rick Singer to ensure that their two daughters—Olivia Jade, 20, and Bella, 21—would be admitted to the University of Southern California as crew recruits, despite neither Olivia Jade or Bella having any crew experiences. Among the couple’s charges were multiple counts of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.
E! News’ source told the publication that Giannulli and Loughlin want to serve their sentences at different times so their daughters aren’t alone. “They don’t want to have any overlap and leave the girls on their own,” the insider said.
The source continued, “They are trying to work out a way that one of them can be in L.A. with the girls while the other is serving their sentence.” The insider also noted that Bella and Olivia Jade are “worried” about their parents and “hate to see them so upset” as their time in prison looms.
“Everyone is on edge and just trying to hold it together and stay strong,” the insider said.
At her sentencing on August 24, Loughlin claimed that her decision to pay the bribes was “out of love” for her daughters.
“I made an awful decision. I went along will the plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process. In doing so, ignored my intuition and allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass,” she said.
She continued, “I thought I was acting out of love for my children but in reality it only underlined and diminished my daughters’ abilities and accomplishments. More broadly and more importantly, I now understand that my decision helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society generally and the higher education system more specifically…While I wish I could go back and do things differently, I can only take responsibility and move forward. I have great faith in God and I believe in redemption and I will do everything in my power to redeem myself and use this experience as a catalyst to do good and give back for the rest of my life.”