Lori Loughlin Charged With Bribery, Faces 50 Years In Prison

Full House actress Lori Loughlin (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic) FilmMagic

Full House actress Lori Loughlin has been charged with bribery.

Here’s what you need to know.

A grand jury in the District of Massachusetts has returned additional charges against 11 of the 15 parents, including Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossino Giannulli, in the largest college admissions case in U.S. history.

U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling alleges in this third superseding indictment that the defendants conspired to commit federal program bribery by bribing employees of the University of Southern California (USC) to gain admission for their children. In exchange for the alleged bribes, USC employees allegedly “designated the defendant’s children as athletic recruits – with little or no regard for their athletic abilities – or as members of other favored admissions categories.”

"Our goal from the beginning has been to hold the defendants fully accountable for corrupting the college admissions process through cheating, bribery and fraud," Lelling said. "The superseding indictments will further that effort.”

Loughlin, Giannulli and the other nine defendants have pleaded not guilty to previous charges. As a result of these new charges, which could carry up to 10 additional years in prison, and previous charges, Loughlin and Giannulli each face 50 years in prison.

Arraignment dates have not yet been scheduled.

Fellow actress Felicity Huffman, who co-starred in Desperate Housewives, is currently serving 14 days in prison as a result of her guilty plea. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also ruled that Huffman, 56, will serve one year probation, pay a $30,000 fine and perform 250 hours of community service. Huffman pleaded guilty in May to one charge of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.

In April, Lelling charged 51 people in federal court as part of a long-running, nationwide conspiracy to illicitly gain admission for high school students to top colleges and universities. Many parents apparently paid $200,000 and up to $6.5 million to have their children admitted to various colleges and universities. The case, which has become known as Operation Varsity Blues, is the largest college admissions scandal in U.S. history.