Lori Loughlin’s fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, was sentenced in federal court Friday to five months behind bars for his part in a widespread college-admissions cheating scandal that rocked higher education.
Loughlin is also due to be sentenced later Friday afternoon for her role in a scheme to get her and Giannulli’s daughters admitted to the University of Southern California by falsely portraying them as elite athletes worthy of special consideration.
Loughlin pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in May after more than a year of her and Giannulli fighting with prosecutors over their part in the larger national scandal dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.”
Giannulli also pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud in connection to the scheme.
In addition to his prison sentence, Giannulli was ordered Friday to pay a $250,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service.
Friday’s sentencing comes after federal investigators last year uncovered a network of wealthy parents who paid thousands of dollars to a California man who boosted their children’s chances of gaining entrance into elite colleges
The scheme was led by William “Rick” Singer, who ran a for-profit college counseling and preparation business. Singer torpedoed the entire operation when he agreed to wear a wire and cooperate with investigators.
A number of other privileged parents were caught up in the scandal, including “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman.
Huffman served 11 days of a 14-day sentence in October after she admitted to paying for someone to proctor and correct her daughter’s college board test, which resulted in the score jumping 400 points above her PSAT performance to 1420 out of a possible 1600.
In the case of Loughlin and Giannulli, prosecutors alleged that in addition to falsely presenting their daughters to the university as crew team athletes, the parents instructed their younger daughter not to answer any questions from her high school counselor if he asked about her being flagged as a crew recruit.
Giannulli later confronted that counselor “aggressively” and “bluntly stated that (his younger daughter) was a coxswain,” prosecutors alleged in a sentencing memo.
Neither of the daughters, who are no longer enrolled in USC, has been charged.
Lawyers for Loughlin and Giannulli did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the assertions in the sentencing memo filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.
The memo recommended two months of prison, $150,000 fine and 100 hours of community service for Loughlin.
