It's over. Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli will serve prison time and pay a large fine after striking a plea deal in their college admissions cheating scam case, authorities announced on May 21.
It's a major about-face for the former "Full House" actress and her designer husband, who pleaded not guilty last year in the case that made global headlines after they were arrested in March 2019 and accused of paying a $500,000 bribe to get their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew team recruits despite neither girl participating in the sport.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, the Los Angeles-based couple will plead guilty at an upcoming court date — specifically, Lori "will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud," while her husband "will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud."
Under the terms of the deal, which is subject to the court's approval, Lori will serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine and serve two years of supervised release as well as do 100 hours of community service. Mossimo, however, will serve five months behind bars, pay a $250,000 fine, serve two years of supervised release and complete 250 hours of community service.
"Under the plea agreements filed today, these defendants will serve prison terms reflecting their respective roles in a conspiracy to corrupt the college admissions process and which are consistent with prior sentences in this case. We will continue to pursue accountability for undermining the integrity of college admissions," U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling said in a Department of Justice press release.
The case has made headlines since the spring of 2019 when dozens of parents and educators were arrested and changed for their roles in the case, which investigators had dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues."
Another TV star, "Desperate Housewives" alum Felicity Huffman, was also implicated for paying a middleman $15,000 to help boost her daughter's SAT scores. But unlike Lori, who very publicly fought the case and insisted she and her husband had done nothing wrong, Felicity immediately pleaded guilty and publicly apologized for her behavior, a decision that pleased the judge. On Oct. 25, 2019, Felicity was released early from a California prison after serving 11 days of a two-week sentence.