Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli have taken a generous plea deal which will see them serve just two and five months respect...
Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli have taken a generous plea deal which will see them serve just two and five months respectively in prison for taking part in a college bribery scheme to get their daughters into school.
The pair had been facing 40 years behind bars each for paying Rick Singer, the scheme mastermind, $500,000 to pass their daughters off to officials at USC as rowing stars when neither had ever played the sport.
They were arrested in March 2019 along with 50 other parents including actress Felicity Huffman.
Lori and Mossimo pleaded not guilty immediately and insisted they thought they were giving money to charity but on Wednesday, the pair both signed plea agreements where they accepted they will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud.
As part of their plea deal, Lori will serve two months in prison and pay $150,000 and Mossimo will serve five months in prison.
Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli have changed their plea to guilty in the college bribery admission scandal
The pair signed plea agreements on Wednesday
Both will plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars.
Both had been facing additional charges - conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery; conspiracy to commit money laundering - that have been dropped.
A judge still has to approve their sentences and a hearing date has not yet been set.
William Trach, a lawyer for the couple, declined to comment in their change of heart on Thursday morning after the plea deals were announced by the Justice Department.
The pair are the 23rd and 24th parents to plead guilty as part of the case.
The harshest sentence was handed to Douglas Hodge, who was given nine months for his role.
He paid bribes totaling $850,000 - from 2008 until 2012 - to get four of his children into the University of Southern California and Georgetown University as fake athletic recruits, prosecutors said.
Hodge is appealing his nine month sentence, which is the harshest punishment handed out so far in the case.
Lori with the couple's daughters Olivia Jade (right) and Isabella Rose (left)
33 wealthy parents of college applicants were accused of paying more than a total of $25 million to William Rick Singer (pictured) who used part of the money to inflate entrance exam test scores and bribe college officials
Others have ranged between just one day behind bars to a probation only sentences to sentences of a few weeks or months.
Felicity Huffman was one of the first. She served just 14 days in prison last year for paying $15,000 for a proctor to change her daughter Sophia's SAT score.
Lori and Mossimo listed their Bel Air mansion for sale earlier this year for $28million.
At the time, sources told TMZ it had nothing to do with their case or any mounting legal fees and that the couple wanted to move on for Mossimo to explore another architecture project.
Singer had an array of exam monitors and sports staff within the colleges on the payroll who facilitated it.
Loughlin and her husband paid half a million dollars to help their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella, get into USC by pretending they were sports stars.
More than 50 people were charged after months of investigation which involved Singer cooperating with the authorities and recording some of his phone calls with parents.
Lori and Mossimo denied it immediately and said they thought they were giving to charity.
Other parents, like Huffman who paid to have one of her daughter's test scores augmented to make it more impressive, adm
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