Lori Loughlin Pleads Not Guilty Once Again, Waives Court Appearance
Former Full House star Lori Loughlin was due in court on Monday for charges against her relating to her role in the college admissions scandal. She ended up waiving her court appearance and entered yet another plea of not guilty. This is in regard to the fourth indictment against her, according to Yahoo News.
Loughlin’s not guilty plea is not especially surprising as she has entered similar ones to each one of the many charges against her thus far. Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, also faces the same charges in this case and has responded the same to each of them.
The actress’ attorney, Sean M. Berkowitz, wrote the following statement to the court.
“Defendant and her counsel affirm that Ms. Loughlin has received a copy of the Fourth Superseding Indictment and that Ms. Loughlin pleads not guilty to each of the counts against her. Therefore Ms. Loughlin respectfully requests that the Court accept this waiver and enter Ms. Loughlin’s plea of not guilty.”
This most recent plea comes after another one of the defendants charged in this case was smacked with yet another charge. John Wilson has been accused of paying $220,000 in bribery funds to get his son into the University of Southern California, according to BuzzFeed News. In addition to an array of charges — including conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, money laundering conspiracy, and aiding and abetting wire fraud — he was charged on January 14 with new allegations of filing a false tax report.
Like Loughlin, Wilson has pleaded not guilty to all charges and could face years in prison if convicted.
After Wilson’s new charge, Loughlin, her husband, and the other individuals charged in the fourth indictment were forced to either waive their court appearance and enter a not guilty plea, or face arraignment.
Loughlin and Giannulli’s charges are very similar to that of Wilson’s. They, too, were accused of offering a $500,000 bribe to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella, into the University of Southern California.
As The Inquisitr previously reported, it’s beginning to appear more and more likely that the girls will be called in to testify against their parents — or possibly even face charges themselves.
“Lori has been told by the legal team that the United States Attorney’s Office will use her daughters as star witnesses in hopes of securing a conviction,” an inside source said of the coming legal proceedings.
