Lori Loughlin’s Attempt To Dismiss College Admission Case Against Her Denied By Judge

The case against Lori Loughlin will continue to move forward. The judge in charge of the case denied her motion to dismiss the case, Deadline is reporting.

“After consideration of the extensive briefing, affidavits and other information provided by the government and defendants, the Court is satisfied that the government has not lied to or misled the Court. The defendants’ motion to dismiss the indictment or in the alternative to suppress evidence and order an evidentiary hearing is denied,” U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gordon wrote in the ruling.

The Full House star and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of paying “bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their offspring designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they had never participated in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC,” according to an indictment filed in March.

Loughlin had petitioned the judge to dismiss the case on the grounds that FBI agents had been overzealous in their handling of Rick Singer, who ran the college admissions scheme, and had leaned on him in order to get him to falsely incriminate Loughlin and Giannulli.

The couple formally pleaded guilty in April of last year after declining to take a government deal. After they filed their brief arguing that the case should be dismissed, the prosecutor filed a brief admitting that it had been a “mistake” not to turn over the evidence related to the FBI interview.

Prosecutors also offered new evidence in the case that suggests that Loughlin and Giannulli were aware that the money they were giving Singer would be used to buy their daughter a spot at USC. The evidence included new emails between the couple and Singer that offered details on how the scheme would play out. Singer is now cooperating with prosecutors and will likely testify at the trial this fall.

Even as Judge Gordon ruled that the case could continue to move forward, he also scolded the prosecutors for failing to produce the evidence on the FBI agents earlier in the investigation. He wrote that although the disclosure came late, it was early enough that it offered Loughlin and Giannulli plenty of time to prepare their case with the knowledge that it existed. As a result, they were not unduly burdened by its delayed introduction.

It was previously reported that Loughlin’s legal team was confident that the case would be dismissed because they believed they had proof that Rick Singer, the man behind the scheme to bribe college admissions officials to earn preferential treatment, had told Loughlin that her money was a donation and not a bribe.