Lori Loughlin's Daughters Struggle Due To Both Their Mother And Father's Imprisonment

Nov 29, 2020 by apost team

YouTube star Olivia Jade Giannulli, 21, and her sister Isabella Rose Giannulli, 22, are reportedly living in a “nightmare,” with both of their parents 56-year-old actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, 57-year-old fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli serving prison time following the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.

Actress Lori Loughlin, 56, and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli, 57, were sentenced to two months and five months in prison respectively for their roles in the 2019 college admissions scandal. According to NBC, officials at the prison and the federal prosecutor’s office said that the Full House star reported to a federal prison in Northern California on October 30th.

She had surrendered early -- the judge who gave her the sentence had ordered her to report to prison on November 19th. Her husband was booked into a federal prison in Lompoc, near Santa Barbara on November 19th. Loughlin is expected to be released on December 28th, but a source tells people that she is hoping to be let out before Christmas. Giannulli is expected to be released in April 2021.

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PEOPLE reported on Monday, November 23rd, that her daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, whom she had committed the bribery for, are “beyond worried.”

"It's just a nightmare for them," a source tells PEOPLE. "They were very upset when they said goodbye to Lori. But to have both of their parents now in prison at the same time is very upsetting." The source adds that “they are beyond worried. They can't wait to have their mom home in December, though. They try to focus on this.

On how Loughlin is coping with being behind bars, a legal source reveals that she is holding up well. The source says that she was “a little weepy,” on her first night in prison, but pulled herself together quickly. She is not being bullied by nor is she battling any specific problems.

"She’s using this time to focus on herself, but she’s also interested in hearing the stories of the other inmates. She realizes she’s no better and no worse than any of them. Lori is resolved to finish her sentence with her head held high,” the source adds.

According to Vanity Fair, prosecutors had made their final pitch in August to Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton for the husband and wife’s sentencing recommendations.

Justin D. O’Connell, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boston, laid out the argument in a memo for Judge Gorton: Giannulli should get more prison time than Loughlin after they paid a total of $500,000 together to get their daughters into the University of Southern California (USC) as bogus rowing crew recruits.

Prosecutors recommended five months for Giannulli and just two months for Loughlin when they each flipped their pleas to guilty for one count of fraud in May. Giannulli was, O’Connell argues, the more “active participant in the scheme,” since he made the payments and took the infamous photos of his daughters posing with a rowing machine.

In the charging documents from last year, it was apparent that the couple's daughter, then 20-year-old online personality Olivia Jade had been CC’d on at least one email with the organizer of the scheme, William “Rick” Singer. The memo, according to Daily Mail, adds that Olivia’s parents guided her through the process, especially regarding how to handle a potential whistleblower: an unnamed counselor at Olivia's high school.

The document also describes Loughlin as “complicit” in the fraud, accusing her of “eagerly enlisting Singer a second time for her younger daughter, and coaching her daughter not to 'say too much' to her high school’s legitimate college counselor, lest he catch onto their fraud.”

When Olivia asked her mom if she should list USC as a top choice for college, Loughlin called the counselor a “weasel” who could “meddle” in the plan. Thus her advice of “Don’t say too much to that man,’ to her daughter.

The prosecution reiterated that Giannulli was the main communicator with Singer and that he had intimidated a counselor who questioned Olivia’s recruitment to USC, appearing at the school to confront the man over, in the counselor’s words, “why I was trying to ruin or get in the way of their opportunities.”

Singer’s contact within the athletic department left a voicemail with Singer and asked him to tell parents not to show up unannounced on school campuses or to yell at counselors (the administrator has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit racketeering, fraud, and bribery, whereas Singer has pleaded guilty to four felonies).

Do you think Lori will be released early? Tell us your thoughts about the entire saga in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to anyone who might be interested in hearing more about the 2019 college admissions scandal!