Federal Jury Indicts Lori Loughlin In College Admissions Scandal

BOSTON – Aunt Becky of "Full House," Lori Loughlin and her husband designer Mossimo Giannulli, were among the 16 parents involved in the college admissions scandal who were officially charged Tuesday in federal court. The group is part of a second indictment for conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering in connection with a scheme to use bribery to cheat on college entrance exams to get their children into elite colleges, according to United States Attorney Andrew Lelling's office.

All of the parents were arrested last month on a criminal complaint.

The conspiracy, dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" by law enforcement is the largest college admissions scandal of its kind to be prosecuted. It involved parents conspiring with William “Rick” Singer, 58, of Newport Beach, California to bribe SAT and ACT exam administrators to allow a test taker to secretly take college entrance exams in place of students. Another method involved bribing officials to correct the students’ answers after they had taken the exam or bribing university athletic coaches and administrators to facilitate the admission of students to elite universities as purported athletic recruits.

The second superseding indictment also charges the parents with conspiring to launder the bribes and other payments in furtherance of the fraud by funneling them through Singer’s purported charity and his for-profit corporation, as well as by transferring money into the United States, from outside the United States, for the purpose of promoting the fraud scheme.

The scam has engulfed wealthy, prominent parents and athletic coaches at elite universities across the country, including Yale and Georgetown. Actress Felicity Huffman of "Desperate Housewives" fame was among those charged. She and 13 others agreed to plead guilty yesterday in Boston.

The following defendants were charged in the second superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering:

1. Gamal Abdelaziz, 62, aka “Gamal Aziz,” of Las Vegas, Nev.;
2. Diane Blake, 55, of Ross, Calif.;
3. Todd Blake, 53, of Ross, Calif.;
4. I-Hsin “Joey” Chen, 64, of Newport Beach, Calif.;
5. Mossimo Giannulli, 55, of Los Angeles, Calif.;
6. Elizabeth Henriquez, 56, of Atherton, Calif.;
7. Manuel Henriquez, 56, of Atherton, Calif.;
8. Douglas Hodge, 61, of Laguna Beach, Calif.;
9. Michelle Janavs, 48, of Newport Coast, Calif.;
10. Elisabeth Kimmel, 54, of Las Vegas, Nev.;
11. Lori Loughlin, 54, of Los Angeles, Calif.;
12. William McGlashan, Jr., 55, of Mill Valley, Calif.;
13. Marci Palatella, 63, of Hillsborough, Calif.;
14. John Wilson, 59, of Lynnfield, Mass.;
15. Homayoun Zadeh, 57, of Calabasas, Calif.; and
16. Robert Zangrillo, 52, of Miami, Fla.

Three parents—David Sidoo, 59, of Vancouver, Canada; Gregory Colburn, 61, of Palo Alto, Calif.; and Amy Colburn, 59, of Palo Alto, Calif.—were previously indicted in connection with the scheme.

An arraignment date has not yet been scheduled. Case information, including the status of each defendant, charging documents and plea agreements are available here.

The charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. The charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering provides for a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the money laundering.

#BREAKING: Felicity Huffman & Jane Buckingham plea hearing set for 5/24 at 2:30 pm in federal court in #Boston. Agustin Huneeus plea hearing set for 5/21 at 2:30 pm #CollegeAdmissionsScandal
— U.S. Attorney MA (@DMAnews1) April" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/DMAnews1/s... 9, 2019

Yesterday:

Desperate Housewives' Felicity Huffman, 13 Others To Plead Guilty In College Admissions Scam

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).