Crisis Managers Say Lori Loughlin Approached Them
Of the parents accused of engaging in bribery in order to get their children into college, many — facing seemingly insurmountable evidence — have agreed to plead guilty. These include several prominent business executives, as well as Felicity Huffman, one of the famous actresses accused in the case.
But the other actress who made headlines in the college admissions scandal, Lori Loughlin, has not pleaded guilty. She is fighting the charges, and is now looking for outside help.
According to CNN, Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, are looking to hire a crisis manager in order to restore their reputations. The actress, known for her roles as Aunt Becky on Full House and Fuller House, has approached at least two specialists, said specialists told CNN.
“I truly believe she thinks she’s going to not serve jail time and return to work,” one of the specialists told the network, implying that Loughlin has that wrong. Another specialist told CNN that their advice to Loughlin and her husband was to focus more on their legal case than on their public reputations problems.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 as part of the scheme to get their two daughters — one of whom is the social media influencer known as Olivia Jade — into the University of Southern California.
In a contrasting bit of reporting, a spokesperson for Loughlin told CNN that “there are people out there throwing their names at the media that are trying to get attention.” The same spokesperson denied that any crisis PR team would be brought in.
While several of the parents in the college admissions case have pleaded guilty, none have been sentenced yet, so it’s unclear how much jail time they will be facing.
Lori Loughlin is reportedly freaking out about her reputation while still in denial over prison time https://t.co/rPVZxEpfuM pic.twitter.com/jbUjrdnrhv
— UPROXX (@UPROXX) May 3, 2019
William Rick Singer, the accused ringleader of the scheme, has agreed to cooperate with authorities. His co-operation reportedly included providing authorities with recorded conversations with various parents who had paid him to get their children into various top universities. The alleged schemes involving Singer reportedly included paying off standardized testing proctors, and also involved numerous athletic coaches — several of whom were, themselves, indicted.
A total of 50 people have been charged in connection with the overall scandal, including 33 parents. However, recent reports emerging this week, per The New York Times, indicated that a new wave of parents are about to be implicated in the case.
The 54-year-old Loughlin was dropped from the Hallmark Channel and from Fuller House as her name became increasingly tied to the college admissions scandal.
