Lori Loughlin plea deal could mean two years in jail, reports say

Apr 10, 2019

By Herb Scribner

Multiple reports suggest that Lori Loughlin has been offered a plea deal that will require her to spend years in prison.

Sources told TMZ that a plea deal for Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, who are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes so their children could be crew recruits for the University of Southern California, would include two years of prison time.

Uproxx, Page Six, The Mercury News and The Daily Beast all reported on the TMZ report of two years.

“If that happens, more charges could be added, including a charge of money laundering, which could significantly raise the minimum amount of prison time that must be served, TMZ added,” according to Mercury News.

On Monday, more than a dozen parents involved in the scandal, including actress Felicity Huffman, agreed to plead guilty in the court case, according to the The Associated Press.

Huffman’s deal has agreed to pay a $20,000 fine and could serve on the “low end” of the four-to-10-month sentence, according to Reuters.

However, Loughlin was not among the parents working with prosecutors in the deal. Experts told CBS News that the deals might put pressure on Loughlin and the parents who haven’t come forward yet.

CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman said that the situation doesn’t reflect kindly on Loughlin, either.

“Felicity Huffman pleading guilty and giving such a perfect statement of remorse and contrition is a very bad sign for Lori Loughlin. … If you go forward and fight this case you really could wind up with a sentence that is a lot of time in prison,” Klieman said. “By having all these guilty pleas at one time … it’s to send a message out there to the remaining defendants that you better get in here and you better get in here quick.”