The federal indictment charging Mossimo Giannulli and Lori Loughlin with bribery does not include altogether new allegations of wrongdoing.
But Tuesday’s indictment does contain two new alleged quotes from Giannulli that could show the extent to which he understood the plan to get his daughters into the University of Southern California by falsely designating them as crew recruits.
In August 2016, the mastermind of the scam, William “Rick” Singer, emailed Giannulli and Loughlin, saying that he needed a copy of their daughter Isabella’s transcript and test scores “very soon while I create a coxswain portfolio for her.”
“It would probably help to get a picture of her on an ERG in workout clothes like a real athlete,” Singer wrote, referring to the indoor rowing machine.
“Fantastic,” Giannulli replied, according to the indictment. “Will get all.”
Months later, after Isabella Giannulli was admitted to the University of Southern California as a crew recruit, Singer’s accountant emailed a $200,000 invoice to the couple. On April 10, 2017, Giannulli forwarded that invoice to his own accountant, the indictment states.
“Good news my daughter … is in (U)SC… bad is I had to work the system,” he allegedly wrote.
The two new quotes are part of prosecutors’ allegations that Giannulli and Loughlin paid a total of $500,000 to Singer’s sham charity to get their two daughters into USC as crew recruits even though they did not participate in crew. The daughters, Isabella and Olivia Jade Giannulli, are not currently enrolled at USC, the university said Monday.
Singer pleaded guilty in late March to racketeering conspiracy, money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and obstruction of justice.
Giannulli and Loughlin face charges of conspiracy fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery. Both have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The indictment’s new quotes add further details to the allegations in the original complaint released in March. The complaint showed that Singer had asked Loughlin and Giannulli for an “action picture” of their younger daughter, Olivia Jade, rowing as part of the scheme.
“Moss will get this done,” Loughlin allegedly wrote in a July 2017 email, copying Giannulli. “We are back in town on Monday.”
Giannulli sent the photo of her on the machine to Singer, copying Loughlin, a week later, the complaint said.
Lori Loughlin ‘Terrified’ About New Charges: Report
Loughlin is scared about new charges that were announced against her and husband on Tuesday, according to a report.
A source close to Loughlin told People magazine: “They feel like this is David versus Goliath. How do you go up against the federal government, when the government has decided to make an example out of you? How can you possibly move forward from this?”
“This stress is about to break them,” the source claimed.
“It just gets worse and worse for her. And you have to remember: nothing new has happened. They could have charged her with all of this last spring. But they waited,” the source continued. “She feels like she is a scapegoat.”
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
