Lori Loughlin Doesn't Think She Did Anything Illegal
by EG
What would you do if your kid didn't have the grades to get into college? You'd pay $500,000 to bribe the college's rowing coach to falsely say that your unathletic kid was a star athlete, right? That's Lori Loughlin's take on her participation in a college bribery scheme, according to People. She thinks she only did what any mom would do, and she certainly didn't do anything illegal. Read on for details about how the legal system disagrees.
Via People.
For the last month, Lori Loughlin has grappled with the charges against her in the high-profile college admissions cheating scandal, a source close to the actress tells PEOPLE.
“It’s just taking some time for it to sink in that what she was allegedly doing could be considered illegal,” says the source. “To her, it wasn’t egregious behavior. Was it entitled and perhaps selfish? Perhaps. But she didn’t see it as being a legal violation.”
“From the beginning, she didn’t want to take a deal, because she felt that she hadn’t done anything that any mom wouldn’t have done, if they had the means to do so,” the source continues. “So this wasn’t her being obstinate; this was her truly not understanding the seriousness of the allegations.”
On March 12, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced it had charged 50 people, including Loughlin and fellow actress Felicity Huffman, in the cheating scandal. The two actresses, along with coaches, admissions counselors, parents and Loughlin’s husband, fashion designer J. Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of such alleged crimes as falsifying SAT scores and lying about the athletic skills of their children.
According to prosecutors, Loughlin allegedly wanted her daughters to get into the University of Southern California so badly that she and Giannulli paid approximately $500,000 in bribes to falsely designate their daughters as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew.
Huffman has agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
But Loughlin has not yet admitted to any guilt — and things got worse for her on Tuesday, when she and Giannulli were among 16 parents indicted on an additional felony charge of money laundering conspiracy. They now face up to 20 years in prison for each charge.
Get the rest of the story at People.
Do you think Lori did what any mom would do? Let us know in the comments below.