Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for Dec. 17
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Lori Loughlin warned her daughters that they needed to do better in high school in the midst of organizing their admission to USC in the college admissions scandal, court documents reveal.
Loughlin, 55, and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, 56, filed court documents on Friday at the Massachusetts U.S. District Court asking for FBI interview statements from scam mastermind William “Rick” Singer that they believe will strengthen their case and help prove their innocence.
According to USA Today, the request comes after the couple previously asked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the interviews only to receive a letter summarizing their content. The letter was attached to the couple’s motion alleging that they need the full documents in order to have an adequate defense and fair trial.
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“Lori Loughlin was in charge and told the couple’s daughters that they needed to do better in high school," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling wrote in the letter, recounting what Singer told the FBI prior to the couple being charged in March.
Actress Lori Loughlin, right, leaves as her husband Mossimo Giannulli, left, are asking a court to give them access to evidence they believe will help in their defense. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Loughlin and Giannulli previously pleaded not guilty to expanded charges of bribery brought against them in October along with 11 other parents swept up in the scandal. The duo has been accused of arranging a total collective payment of $500,000 to Singer to get their daughters, OIivia Jade and Isabella, recruited to USC as athletes on the crew team, despite never having participated in the sport.
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The charge of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery carries a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. The couple was previously hit with charges of money laundering and conspiracy that could land them behind bars for 40 years if convicted on all of them.
Singer also noted that Giannulli was informed that a counselor at Marymount High School, which his daughters attended, “could mess things up” after they questioned why the girls were being recruited to the USC crew team despite not rowing for the high school. Singer claims Giannulli solved the problem by explaining that the girls rowed at a private club.
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The couple hopes that gaining access to Singer’s full interviews will allow them to prove that they weren’t aware the money they were paying wasn’t going to USC through legitimate channels. However, in the letter, Lelling noted that the U.S. Attorney does not believe any of the information contained within the documents is exculpatory.
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