Actress Lori Loughlin and 10 other parents were hit with new charges on Tuesday for their alleged roles in the massive college admission scandal, federal prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts announced that a federal grand jury slapped the parents with new charges in a third superseding indictment that alleges they conspired to commit federal program bribery. Prosecutors say the parents bribed University of Southern California employees to help their children get into the school by allegedly designating them as “athletic recruits...or other favored admissions categories.”
In March, nearly 50 parents were charged after allegedly paying admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer, 58, more than $25 million total to rig test scores, cheat on SAT exams, and bribe college coaches, with the goal of getting their children into elite universities, including USC. Prosecutors previously alleged Loughlin, 54, and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, paid Singer nearly $500,000 to get their two daughters admitted to USC as crew recruits—even though neither teen had previously rowed crew. A grand jury in April charged over a dozen parents with one new count of conspiracy to commit money laundering for allegedly laundering the bribes through Singer’s purported charity.
