U.S. attorney Andrew Lelling said the longer the case goes on for Lori Loughlin the more time she is likely to spend behind bars following the college admission scandal.
Those comments came during an interview with local Boston station WCVB. The attorney was asked about the 14-day prison sentence actress Felicity Huffman received after pleading guilty for her part in Operation Varsity Blues, and how that would compare to the amount of time the “Full House” actress could get, per the “Today” show in a piece published Tuesday.(RELATED: Lori Loughlin’s Daughter Bragged About Going To School To Party)
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
“She [Huffman] took responsibility almost immediately,” Lelling explained. “She was contrite. Did not try to minimize her conduct. I think she handled it in a classy way, and so, at the end of the day, we thought the one-month (recommended sentence) was proportional.” (RELATED: Report: Felicity Huffman Deletes Post About Being A ‘Good Enough’ Mom Following College Admission Scam Arrest)
“I think the two weeks she got was reasonable,” he added. “We were happy with that.” (RELATED: Felicity Huffman Pleads Guilty In College Admissions Scandal)
As previously reported, the “Desperate Housewives” star pleaded guilty to paying $15,000 to raise her daughter, Sophia Grace’s, SAT scores in 2017.
In comparison, Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for allegedly paying $500,000 to get both their daughters, Isabella and Olivia Jade, into USC by pretending they were competitive rowing recruits.
“If she [Loughlin] is convicted, we would probably ask for a higher sentence for her than we did for Felicity Huffman,” Lelling shared. “I can’t tell you what that would be.”
“The longer the case goes, let’s say she goes through trial,” he added. “If it is after trial, we would ask for something substantially higher. If she resolved it before trial, something lower than that.”
To put that further into context, one parent, Los Angeles executive Stephen Semprevivo, pleaded guilty to paying $400,000 to get his son into Georgetown as a fake tennis recruit and was sentenced to four months in prison last month.