BOSTON (AP) – TV actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, will go on trial in October on charges that they bribed their daughters’ way into the University of Southern California, a federal judge said Thursday.
The judge set the trial date a day after defense attorneys claimed that new evidence would exonerate the couple of charges in the college admissions bribery scheme that has embroiled prestigious universities across the country.
The famous couple will be tried starting Oct.5 in Boston federal court alongside six other prominent parents accused of rigging the college admissions process. Seven others still fighting the charges will go to trial in January 2021, U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton said.
Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the sitcom “Full House,” and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into USC as recruits to the rowing team, though neither of them was a rower. Authorities say Loughlin and Giannulli helped create fake athletic profiles for the teens by sending the consultant at the center of the scheme, Rick Singer, photos of their teens posing on rowing machines.
The money was funneled through a sham charity operated by Singer, who has pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme, authorities say.