Lori Loughlin is still extremely stressed over her and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli's, college bribery court case, a source tells ET.
Lori Loughlin is still extremely stressed over her and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli's, college bribery court case, a source tells ET.
On Wednesday, the couple's claims in their motion to dismiss the case that they filed last month were denied by the U.S. Attorney. A source tells ET that the 55-year-old actress and the 56-year-old fashion designer are still not planning to make a deal to avoid possibly lengthy jail sentences if found guilty of the charges against them, which they've pleaded not guilty to.
"Lori is exhausted from worrying about this case," the source says. "She hasn't wavered from her not guilty plea for months. At this point, Lori and her husband have absolutely no plans to make a deal despite the feds' response to her allegations. The prosecution's pressure has had no effect. Lori and her husband maintain they made a charitable donation."
Meanwhile, the source says that Loughlin is doing fine amid the coronavirus outbreak, given that she's already been laying low since her alleged involvement in the headline-making college admissions scandal hit the news.
"Social distancing hasn't been difficult for Lori because she feels in many ways she has been doing it for the past year," the source says. "She is, of course, very concerned for her family and reminds her [daughters Olivia Jade and Bella] to social distance. She's become used to being in her home and separating herself from the public. It's become a safe haven for her during her darkest moments of this scandal."
As for 20-year-old Olivia Jade and 21-year-old Bella, the source says they've been "closer than ever" while being under quarantine together.
"They hang out and listen to music, play games, watch movies, make TikToks and FaceTime with friends," the source says. "They know they have no choice but to stay home and, while it's hard, they are making the best of it."
According to the source, the sisters have also been getting along great with their parents.
"Olivia and Bella have been more at ease since the family made the case an off-limits topic in the home," the source says. "Also, Lori's decision to allow them to use social media again has eased a lot of tension. In the beginning, they were banned to post anything online, and they felt as if they were being blamed and even punished because of their mother's mistake. All that is in the past and time has helped to heal."
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 in bribes to get their daughters admitted to the University of Southern California as recruits for the crew team, though neither of them had ever participated in the sport. They've pleaded not guilty to all charges leveled against them, claiming their payments were donations to the school and not bribes.
According to the couple's motion to dismiss the case, their lawyers alleged that prosecutors acted inappropriately in regard to one of their main witnesses -- bribery scam ringleader Rick Singer -- and that they tried to conceal exculpatory evidence. But in court documents obtained by ET on Wednesday, the government claims there is no basis for the dismissal request.
"The defendants' core allegations of misconduct are premised on a straw man: that this case is only about bribery. It is not," the prosecuting attorney's response reads. "The defendants are charged with conspiring to engage in a single, sweeping scheme to gain admission for their children to college by, among other things, lying about their academic and athletic qualifications so that complicit coaches, induced by bribes styled as 'donations' to their programs, could purport to recruit them as elite athletes."
For the latest on the case, watch the video below:
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