Lori Loughlin reportedly plans to say she didn't know about the scam to get her kids into USC — even though they were admitted for a sport they don't play
- Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli plan to argue they didn't know about the illegal scam to get their daughters into the University of Southern California, according to TMZ.
- The problem? The kids got in through a program for USC's crew team — and neither of them actually rowed crew.
- Despite that, Loughlin and Giannulli provided photos of the daughters posing with a rowing machine as part of their college applications.
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Lori Loughlin and her husband pleaded not guilty to charges related to the college admissions scandal, where prosecutors say they paid the scam's ringleader William "Rick" Singer $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of California.
Their defense? According to TMZ, Loughlin and her husband, designer Mossimo Giannulli, plan to argue that they had no idea how Singer's scheme worked, they just knew he was good at getting people into colleges. They will reportedly argue they didn't know he cheated in order to get kids in.
The argument may be hard for a jury to swallow.
Singer got the daughters, Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade, into USC by getting them into a special program for the school's crew team. The two do not actually row crew.
The parents allegedly provided photos of the kids posing in front of an indoor rowing machine to sell the story, and prosecutors wiretapped phone calls between Singer and Loughlin where Singer explicitly said he would help "the girls get into USC to do … crew even though they didn't do crew."
Loughlin and Giannulli now face up to 40 years in prison if they're convicted of all charges. The couple reportedly rejected a plea deal that would have given them each at least two years in prison, and have lost work in the fallout over the scandal.
Loughlin believed she hadn't done anything illegal to get her children into USC, according to People, and "hadn't done anything that any mom wouldn't have done."
- Read more:
- Here's how Lori Loughlin got her 2 influencer daughters with millions of followers into USC through an admissions scam, according to investigators
- Here's why Lori Loughlin is facing up to 40 years in prison in the college-admissions scandal while Felicity Huffman is facing less than a year
- Lori Loughlin believes she did what any mother would have done in the college-admissions scandal, report says
- The college admissions scandal highlights just how much successful people believe an elite education matters
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