Federal prosecutors want Full House alum Lori Loughlin and her Guess designer hubby Mossimo Giannulli to be among the first to group of parents to be tried in the Varsity Blues scandal.
The pair have been accused of spending $500K to get their daughters Olivia and Bella into University of Southern California under false pretenses; they have maintained their innocence. The girls are no longer enrolled at USC and after a brief period of silence, Olivia is attempting to reignite her career as an influencer on social media.
The feds proposed the timeline in a memo filed on Wednesday in Boston federal court. Loughlin and Giaunnulli are among 15 parents who pleaded not guilty in the college admissions scandal. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton wants to divide the parents into smaller groups instead of trying them en masse.
Two scenarios have been floated, but both include Loughlin and Giannulli in the first trial in October.
“The government believes that these groupings, which contemplate that spouses who have been charged together are tried together, will facilitate the efficient presentation of evidence based on the specific conduct in which each of the defendants engaged and the nature of the witnesses and evidence against them,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen wrote in the memo.
Rosen also hinted at more guilty pleas: “The government believes that it is likely that additional defendants will enter into agreements to resolve the charges prior to trial. For that reason, the government believes it may be possible to try those defendants who wish to exercise their right to a trial in no more than two trials.”
53 people, including 36 parents, have been charged in the scandal. 31 have pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty later, while 22 are preparing for trial.
13 parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, have been sentenced. Huffman served 11 days of a two-week sentence. Loughlin and Giannulli’s charges are more serious, and because they didn’t plead, they are believed to face up to 40 years behind bars.