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Feds Urge Judge to OK Prison Deals for Loughlin, Giannulli

Associated Press

   BOSTON - Federal prosecutors urged a judge Monday to accept deals that
   call for "Full House" actor Lori Loughlin to spend two months in prison
   and her fashion designer husband, Mossimo Giannulli, to serve five
   months for paying half a million dollars to bribe their daughters' way
   into college.

   Ahead of the famous couple's scheduled sentencing hearings Friday,
   prosecutors said in court filings that the proposed prison terms are
   comparable to the sentences other prominent parents charged in the case
   have received, while accounting for Loughlin and Giannulli's "repeated
   and deliberate conduct" and their "decision to allow their children to
   become complicit in crime."

   Prosecutors called Giannulli "the more active participant in the
   scheme," while they said Loughlin "took a less active role, but was
   nonetheless fully complicit."

   The famous couple pleaded guilty in May to paying $500,000 to get their
   two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew
   recruits even though neither girl was a rower.

   The defense had insisted for more than a year that they believed their
   payments were legitimate donations and accused prosecutors of hiding
   crucial evidence that could prove the couple's innocence because it
   would undermine their case.

   The judge said at their plea hearings that he would decide whether to
   accept or reject the deals after considering the presentencing report,
   a document that contains background on defendants and helps guide
   sentencing decisions.

   Unlike most plea agreements, in which the judge remains free to decide
   the sentence, Loughlin and Giannulli's were built into their deals so
   if the judge accepts the agreements, he cannot change the prison term.

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