Actress Lori Loughlin, husband sentenced to prison over college admission scandal

Three months after pleading guilty of bribing university staff, Actress Lori Loughlin and Fashion designer Husband Mossimo Giannulli have been finally sentenced to prison. In a scandal that rocked the American education system, the celebrity couple paid $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California (USC) as fake crew team recruits. While Loughlin was awarded two months Giannauli was given a five-month prison sentence, after their lawyer publically apologised for their crime.

Their names in the college admission scandal have not only halted their career but also laid bare the lengths some wealthy parents would go to cheat their children’s way into elite universities. In a hearing that was held virtually, Loughlin confessed that her actions helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society and pledged to use her power to be a catalyst towards the good.

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'Awful decision' 

“I made an awful decision. I went along with a plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process and in doing so I ignored my intuition and allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass,” she said.

Meanwhile, in a separate hearing her husband confessed that he “deeply regretted” the harm to his daughters and wife have caused to the others. Addressing the judge, he admitted that he took “full responsibility for his conduct”.

While their attorney defended them saying that they were “devoted parents” motivated by the love for their children, the judge accused them of being greedy despite their opulence.  District judge Nathaniel Gorton expressed outrage at the couple’s greed calling Loughin’s life “ charmed” and “plentiful” with success and wealth. “Yet you stand before me a convicted felon and for what? For the inexplicable desire to grasp even more,” Gorton said.

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 (With inputs from AP )