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Lori Loughlin started her two-month prison sentence on Friday for her role in the college admissions scandal, Fox News confirmed.
The actress reported to the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif., on Friday, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesperson at the facility confirmed to Fox News.
The “Fuller House” alum was handed a two-month term behind bars in August after she and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from $500,000 payments to scam mastermind William “Rick” Singer to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, recruited onto University of Southern California's crew team. The two had never participated in the sport.
FCI Dublin is a low-security federal prison for roughly 1,200 female inmates. The BOP spokesperson confirmed it is the same facility where "Desperate Housewives" actress Felicity Huffman served 11 days of a planned two-week sentence for similar crimes.
Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, wearing a green tie at left, leave the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston on April 3, 2019. Loughlin reported to FCI Dublin in Dublin, Calif. on Friday. (Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Image)
During her Aug. 22 sentencing hearing, Loughlin -- who was wearing a white blouse and appeared virtually via Zoom -- initially seemed calm, showing little emotion as her attorney BJ Trach said she is “profoundly sorry” for her actions. But when it was Loughlin's turn to address the judge, she forced back tears as she apologized.
"I made an awful decision. I went along with a plan to give my daughters an unfair advantage in the college admissions process and in doing so I ignored my intuition and allowed myself to be swayed from my moral compass,” she said. “I have great faith in God, and I believe in redemption and I will do everything in my power to redeem myself and use this experience as a catalyst to do good.”
Describing the “devastating” impact the charges have had on Loughlin's family life and career, Trach said: “Lori lost the acting career she spent 40 years building.” He also called the conduct "completely out of character" for Loughlin.
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Trach touched on how growing up Loughlin's "family lived paycheck-to-paycheck."
"She didn’t attend college because her family couldn’t afford it," said Trach, stating that "from a young age" Loughlin "was determined to succeed for herself and for her family."
He also highlighted Loughlin's recent volunteer work at an elementary school in LA with children with special needs.
Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin O’Connell said Loughlin wasn’t content with the advantages her children already had, thanks to their wealth, and “was focused on getting what she wanted, no matter how and no matter the cost.” He said prison time was necessary to send a message that “everyone, no matter your status, is accountable in our justice system.”
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The sentences put an end to more than a year of legal battles. Loughlin and Giannulli initially pleaded not guilty to expanded charges of bribery brought against them in October along with 11 other parents swept up in the scandal. In May, the duo shocked many when they changed course and agreed to plead guilty as Huffman did in 2019.
In addition to the sentence, Loughlin was fired from roles on both Netflix's 'Fuller House' and Hallmark's 'When Calls the Heart' after her role in the scandal came to light in 2019. (Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic)
In their plea agreement, Loughlin, 56, agreed to serve two months and pay a $150,000 fine along with two years of supervised release and 100 hours of community service. Giannulli, meanwhile, would serve five months in prison, pay a $250,000 fine with two years of supervised release and 250 hours of community service.
Loughlin's sentence comes early, as a judge decided in August that both she and Giannulli had until Nov. 19 to report to prison. As of Friday, Giannulli has yet to report to a facility to begin his five-month sentence.
The fashion designer, who is 57, also appeared in a Massachusetts federal court via Zoom in August from what appeared to be a conference room in Los Angeles. He wore a dark suit, a light pink shirt, and a dark purple tie. His hearing took place just hours before Loughlin's.
Following Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton's acceptance of his plea deal, Giannulli addressed the court.
"I do deeply regret, as [attorney] Sean [Berkowitz] said, the harm that my actions have caused my daughters, my wife, and others. I take full responsibility for my conduct, I'm ready to accept consequences and move forward with the lessons I've learned from this experience," Loughlin's husband said.
Gorton delivered a scorching speech to denounce Giannnulli's crimes. He informed the fashion designer that he belongs in jail to dissuade others in his position who believe they have enough money to buy whatever they want.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Kearney spoke to Giannulli's sentence, calling the five months he will serve "appropriate." Kearney dubbed Giannulli's crime more than "just overzealous parenting."
"It is criminal and desiring of the five months imprisonment," Kearney said.
Berkowitz also spoke to Giannulli's actions, calling his celebrity client "humble."
Lori Loughlin poses with her daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli, left, in 2019. She and husband fashion designer, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from $500,000 payments to scam mastermind William 'Rick' Singer to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, recruited onto University of Southern California's crew team. (Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Berkowitz added that Giannulli "regrets deeply bringing his wife [Lori Loughlin] into the scheme," and said the attention garnered from the scandal has caused the couple's daughters to be "bullied on social media."
U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling agreed to the terms of the plea, outlining Giannulli’s expanded role in the scandal compared to the “Fuller House” actress in his sentence recommendation that was obtained by Fox News.
“The crime Giannulli and Loughlin committed was serious. Over the course of two years, they engaged twice in Singer’s fraudulent scheme. They involved both their daughters in the fraud, directing them to pose in staged photographs for use in fake athletic profiles and instructing one daughter how to conceal the scheme from her high school counselor. As between the defendants, the evidence suggests that Giannulli was the more active participant in the scheme,” Lelling wrote. “He engaged more frequently with Singer, directed the bribe payments to USC and Singer, and personally confronted his daughter’s high school counselor to prevent the scheme from being discovered, brazenly lying about his daughter’s athletic abilities.”
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He added: “Loughlin took a less active role, but was nonetheless fully complicit, eagerly enlisting Singer a second time for her younger daughter, and coaching her daughter not to ‘say too much’ to her high school’s legitimate college counselor, lest he catch on to their fraud.”
In addition to the sentence, Loughlin was fired from roles on both Netflix's "Fuller House" and Hallmark's "When Calls the Heart" after her role in the scandal came to light in 2019.
Fox News' Tyler McCarthy and The Associated Press contributed to this report
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