Mossimo Giannulli sentenced to five months prison for college admissions scandal

Wife Lori Loughlin is to be sentenced later today.

August 21, 2020, 3:21 PM

3 min read

Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli was sentenced Friday to five months in prison for his role in what the judge called “a breathtaking crime on the nation’s higher education system."

Giannulli and his wife, “Full House” actress Lori Loughlin, paid $500,000 to scheme mastermind Rick Singer to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits, even though neither of them rowed. Loughlin will be sentenced later on Friday.

“There is no mystery about the outcome,” Judge Nathaniel Gorton said, noting the defense made no attempt to argue with the government’s recommended sentence of five months in prison, two years of supervised release, 250 hours of community service and a $250,000 fine.

In this Aug. 27. 2019, file photo, Lori Loughlin, and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli leave the federal courthouse after a hearing on charges in a nationwide college admissions cheating scheme in Boston.

Of the two parents, prosecutors portrayed Giannulli as more active in the scheme.

“Giannulli’s conduct in this case evidenced a complete disregard from right and wrong,” Assistant US Attorney Kristen Kearney. “He went ahead with this scheme not once, but twice.”

Giannulli, 57, “exposed his daughters to the scheme and allowed them to become complicit in it,” Kearney said, noting how Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose Giannulli were photographed on a rowing machine as part of phony coxswain profiles and encouraged to keep their admission to USC “hush, hush.”

“This was not simply overzealous parenting,” Kearney said. “It is criminal and deserving of the proposed five months imprisonment.”

Giannulli, appearing by video conference, addressed the judge briefly:

“I deeply regret the harm that my actions have caused my daughters, my wife and others. I take full responsibility for my conduct.”

The judge scolded Giannulli for a crime “motivated by hubris.”

“You’re an informed, smart, successful businessman,” Gorton said. “You were not stealing bread to feed your family. You have no excuse.”

No argument from the defense.

“It’s an appropriate sentence when you balance Mr. Giannulli’s life with the crime he has been convicted of,” defense attorney Sean Berkowitz said. “He sits here today humbled.”

Berkowitz cast Giannulli as a “good man” who made mistakes.

“He regrets deeply bringing his wife into the scheme. His children have been bullied both on social media and in person in a way disproportionate to other children in this scheme,” Berkowitz said. “His family has been the face of the scandal and the crisis.”

In handing down the sentence, Judge Gorton said the crime caused “no specific, calculable loss to USC.” However, the judge said there was “certainly a loss to the overall education system of this country.”

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