Posted on 02/27/2020 7:52:32 AM PST by Conserv
BOSTON (AP) — Lawyers for “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, said Wednesday that new evidence shows the couple is innocent of charges that they bribed their daughters' way into the University of Southern California.
An attorney for the couple said in a legal filing that prosecutors provided the defense with notes written by the admitted ringleader of the college admissions cheating scheme that support the couple's claim that they believed their payments were legitimate donations, not bribes.
Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli. (Getty Images) “This belated discovery ... is devastating to the government’s case and demonstrates that the government has been improperly withholding core exculpatory information, employing a ‘win at all costs’ effort rather than following their obligation to do justice," attorney Sean Berkowtiz wrote.
The filing came on the eve of a status hearing in the case scheduled for Thursday at Boston's federal court in the sweeping college admissions bribery case. It was expected that the judge would set a trial date for the parents still fighting the charges at that hearing.
Now, the couple's attorneys are asking the judge to postpone the setting of the trial date in light of the new evidence, saying “it is the only fair way to protect the defendants' rights.”
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters into USC as crew recruits even though neither was a rower. Authorities say the money was funneled through a sham charity operated by college admissions consultant Rick Singer, who has pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme.
Lawyers for Loughlin and Giannulli have argued that the couple believed the payments were “legitimate donations” that would go directly to USC as a fundraising gift or support Singer’s charity. They have accused prosecutors of hiding crucial evidence that could prove the couple’s innocence because it would undermine their case.
The new information provided to the defense includes notes written by Singer detailing his discussions with FBI investigators about recorded phone calls he had with parents, Berkowitz wrote. Singer said in his notes that the FBI told him to lie by saying that he told the parents who participated in the scheme that their payments were bribes, instead of legitimate donations to the schools, the attorney said.
“They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there money was going — to the program not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment," Singer wrote, according to the filing.
Berkowtiz called the information not only “exculpatory, but exonerating for the defendants the government has charged with bribery.”
The couple is among 15 prominent parents still fighting accusations that they rigged the college admissions system by paying people to pretend their kids were star athletes for sports they didn't play or cheat on their children’s entrance exams.
Nearly two dozen parents have pleaded guilty, including “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, who was sentenced to two weeks in prison for paying $15,000 to have a proctor correct her daughter’s SAT answers.
Federal prosecutors have said the first trial for the parents should begin in October, and that Loughlin and Giannulli should be tried in the first group.
But lawyers for the parents said the substantial amount of evidence, outstanding pretrial motions and “general complexity” of the case made a trial this fall impossible and that there should be no trial before next February.
The new information provided to the defense includes notes written by Singer detailing his discussions with FBI investigators about recorded phone calls he had with parents, Berkowitz wrote. Singer said in his notes that the FBI told him to lie by saying that he told the parents who participated in the scheme that their payments were bribes, instead of legitimate donations to the schools, the attorney said.
“They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there money was going — to the program not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment," Singer wrote, according to the filing.
The parents or the child never signed off on the app saying they were in athletics? Isn’t that fraud?
Oh, okay then. Case dismissed. NOT! What about the illegal race admission crap at hahvahd? Think any of those that were admitted under that set up will be booted? Nope!
FBI coached government witnesses to commit perjury? Shockah.
That’s grounds for a mistrial right there and dismissal of charges with extreme prejudice if true.
I say she walks... and good for her.
The corrupt FBI is treating her like a mass murderer.
And, the beauty of it is that this evidence had to be turned over by the prosecutors.
Comey, McCabe?
Facts Be Irrelvent
should have just built the school a new building or donated to the endowment fund.
The FBI strikes again. Frankly the whole Bureau should be demolished.
Maybe the attorney for the Weaver murdering FBI agents, A.G. Barr, could clean up the mess (of course that is a joke).
corrupt media, corrupt judges, sheesh, we have a lot of work to do in the next 5 years.
Oh, please... newly discovered handwritten notes? Calling Judge Judy!
Fraud—definitely.
Bribery—maybe not...
But those pictures that show my lovely daughter when she was on the rowing team? Just ignore those…
A donation? Seriously, I made a donation to the Town Little League so my kid could play up a level. Same thing.
Next time you walk by the frozen food aisle and see Hotpockets you can know the heiress is about to do jail time over this scandal.
Ummm...didn’t their daughter submit a picture of her rowing when she had never been on a rowing team?
When you get into the weeds on this it appears that USC (and many other schools) have ACTUAL PROGRAMS which allow a parent to BUY their kid’s way into the school with a big enough donation.
Loughlin & Co. can say they were doing so through a bundler. It undermines the government’s case.
Perhaps that should be the charge, then.
“Oh, please... newly discovered handwritten notes?”
exactly ... get this convicted felon and lifelong serial liar on the stand to testify under oath about his “notes” ... analyze the age of the ink on the notes ... oh, and who the hell makes “hand-written” notes in real time about discussions with the FBI, etc. ...
“The rise of Rick Singer: How the mastermind of college admissions scandal built an empire on lies, exploited a broken system”
When My daughter was playing on her high school fast pitch softball team somehow /S girls with less ability were suddenly getting more playing time/better positions after mommy and daddy donated a new field tractor, quad, etc. This kind of thing has been going on before we were a nation and will continue as long as parents want their kids to succeed. The only difference is the level at which the game is played depending on financial resources.
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