Actress Lori Loughlin pleaded not guilty on Friday to new charges against her in the “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal.
According to a report by ABC News, Full House actress Lori Loughlin and her husband pleaded not guilty to new charges that they received last week.
Loughlin and her husband were accused of paying a $500,000 bribe to have their two daughters admitted to the University of Southern California. Loughlin allegedly created fake athletic profiles for her daughters even though they were not competitive athletes prior to enrollment at USC.
In a round of new charges in the college bribery scandal handed down last week, the federal prosecutors said that Loughlin and nine other defendants “conspired to commit federal program bribery by bribing employees of the University of Southern California (USC) to facilitate their children’s admission.” Both Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were charged last week with one count of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.
On Friday, Loughlin and Giannulli pled not guilty to the new charges. The couple also waived their right to appear in court next month to be arraigned on the new charges.
An anonymous source that claims to be close to the family has told People magazine that Loughlin views herself as the victim.“They feel like this is David versus Goliath. How do you go up against the federal government, when the government has decided to make an example out of you? How can you possibly move forward from this?” the anonymous source told People.
“It just gets worse and worse for her. And you have to remember: nothing new has happened. They could have charged her with all of this last spring. But they waited,” the source said, referring to the latest round of charges. “She feels like she is a scapegoat.”
Breitbart News reported last week that actress Felicity Huffman had been released from prison three days early after serving only 11 days of a 14-day sentence.
Loughlin and Giannulli face a 20-year maximum prison sentence if convicted.