Lori Loughlin is now facing an additional bribery charge for her role in the college admissions scandal.
On Tuesday, the US District Attorney of Massachusetts said a grand jury returned additional charges against 11 of the 15 parents charged in the college admissions case.
The new charges in the third superseding indictment allege that Loughlin, her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, and nine others conspired to commit federal program bribery by paying employees of the University of Southern California to facilitate their children’s admission.
‘In exchange for the bribes, employees of the university allegedly designated the defendants’ children as athletic recruits – with little or no regard for their athletic abilities – or as members of other favored admissions categories,’ a statement reads.
Lori Loughlin (right) and her husband Mossimo Giannulli (left) are now facing an additional bribery charge for their roles in the college admissions scandal
The new charges in the third superseding indictment allege that the couple conspired to commit federal program bribery by paying employees of the University of Southern California to facilitate their children’s admission. Loughlin is pictured with her two daughters
Prosecutors in the college admissions scandal claim that Loughlin, 55, paid a $500,000 bribe for her daughters, Olivia Jade, 20, and Isabella Giannulli, 21, (pictured) to be accepted to the university
The charge of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000.
Authorities said the new charge is only against parents, like Loughlin and Giannulli, who pleaded not guilty to the initial indictment.
Parents who have already pleaded guilty or accepted plea deals, like Felicity Huffman, do not face additional charges.
Huffman was given just 14 days behind bars – which she is currently serving – after it was determined that no one suffered a substantial loss after she hired someone to change her daughter’s SAT answers.
And now Loughlin believes that she has an even better case that her actions did not affect anyone else, despite her and her husband allegedly paying $500,000 to get both of their daughters into USC.
Prosecutors in the college admissions scandal claim that Loughlin, 55, paid a $500,000 bribe for her daughters, Olivia Jade, 20, and Isabella Giannulli, 21, to be accepted to the university.
Felicity Huffman was given just 14 days behind bars – which she is currently serving – after it was determined that no one suffered a substantial loss after she hired someone to change her daughter’s SAT answers
They initially rejected the plea deal that Huffman and other parents in the scheme took, but they were then hit with money laundering and conspiracy charges.
On Monday it was revealed Loughlin’s daughters are no longer enrolled at the University of Southern California.
The university registrar said the sisters aren’t enrolled at the school anymore, according to USA Today.
They were not able to provide any other information because of student privacy.
Loughlin and her husband stand accused of making it look as though their daughters were crew recruits even though neither of them took part in the sport.
And they even got the girls to pose for pictures on rowing machines, which they sent to the university along with fake athletic profiles.
Huffman, 56, is currently serving her sentence after being found guilty of paying admissions consultant Rick Singer $15,000 to fake the answers for her now 19-year-old daughter, Sophia.
Huffman still has 250 hours of community service to complete and must stay in prison for the next nine days.
Loughlin is planning on asking the Desperate Housewives star about her stay in prison in case she has to serve time.
‘She’s definitely hoping that Felicity’s time in prison will go easy for her, because that will be a positive sign that, if Lori has to serve time, that she’ll be able to weather it as well,’ a source told People.
‘She wants to debrief Felicity after jail to find out what it was like and what her advice would be.’