On Tuesday, it was reported that Full House actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli will now face additional conspiracy charges for their hand in the college bribery scandal.
According to sources, Loughlin and Giannulli are two of 16 other participants to be indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. The U.S. Attorney's office alleges that Loughlin and her co-defendants were "conspiring to launder the bribes and other payment in furtherance of the fraud by funneling them through [Rick] Singer's purported charity and his for-profit corporation."
The new charges of money laundering come with a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and supervised release, as well as a fine of $500,000.
These new charges come because the couple refused to accept a plea deal that could have landed them in jail for over two years. However, with these additional conspiracy charges, their possible minimum sentences have nearly doubled. Instead of facing the two and half years offered in the plea deal, it is now reported that prosecutors will recommend Loughlin and Giannulli serve almost six years if found guilty. Also, it should be noted that these are the lowest number of years offered for these charges and if the prosecutor or judge sees fit then the time could increase dramatically.
This comes after it was announced that Loughlin and Giannulli will face a different plea deal than their famous counterpart Felicity Huffman due to the amount of money involved. Yet, just because she accepted the deal doesn't mean the Desperate Housewives actress will evade punishment. Huffman will likely pay $20,000 fine plus and additional restitution amount as well as be on probation for a year after serving four to 10 months in jail.
