Lori Loughlin’s daughters Olivia Jade and Bella seen on rowing machines in photos ‘used to scam them into USC’
Lori Loughlin’s daughters are seen posing on rowing machines in newly-released photos that were allegedly used to gain them entrance into USC.
Olivia Jade and Bella Rose Giannulli pose on the devices, which according to court documents they had never used before in their lives.
The photos were submitted as part of the Memorandum in Opposition that was filed in the case this week by prosecutors and obtained by The Sun.
There was also a copy of the email exchange between the girls father and the man who masterminded the plan, William Rick Singer.
In one emil he wrote: “Lori and Moss, I met with USC today. I need a PDF of her transcript and test scores very soon while I create a coxswain portfolio for her.”
He then added, in rewrence to Bella: “It would probably help to get a picture with her on an ERG in workout clothes like a real athlete too.”
The fake rowing credentials submitted by the girls were previously released in a filing back in January.
Olivia’s application claims that she placed in the prestigious Head of the Charles race in Cambridge, and won regional championships while in high school.
Also included in that same filing were two new $50,000 checks paid out to USC athletics for the Galen Center.
Olivia’s sister Isabella had a similar resumé when she applied, and also received rave remarks from an unidentified USC official.
A testimonial on letterhead from the school states that Isabella is “an earnest, outspoken, incredibly positive-minded coxswain.”
It goes on to state that the teenager, who had never before rowed in her life, “has proven to have incredible awareness which has enabled her to organize and direct the boat under to [sic] most demanding of competitions.”
That letter was submitted in October 2016, and a year later a similar version was sent heralding Oliva’s abilities.
Two months after that, a check was sent to Galen Center Gift from the Mossimo Giannulli Trust for $50,000.
Loughlin and her husband are two of a handful of indicted parents in the Operation Varsity Blues scandal who have chosen to fight the charges.
The couple were indicted because they “conspired to commit federal program bribery by bribing employees of the University of Southern California to facilitate their children’s admission” said prosecutors.
“In exchange for the bribes, employees of the university allegedly designated the defendants” children as athletic recruits – with little or no regard for their athletic abilities – or as members of other favored admissions categories.
Loughlin and her husband are now facing 60 years in prison and over one-million dollars in fines for allegedly bribing officials in a bid to get their daughters into the University of Southern California.
They are charged with: conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud; conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery; conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“Loughlin and Giannulli ‘agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team – despite the fact that they did not participate in crew – thereby facilitating their admission to USC,” according to court documents.
The couple emailed mastermind William Rick Singer in 2016 to say that they wanted to get the girl’s into USC.
A short time after that, photos were taken of older daughter Isabella on an ergometer.
Dr. Heinel, the senior associate athletic director at USC, presented Isabella as a potential athletic recruit a month later,
It was then asked that a check be sent to Heinle for $50,000 from Giannulli, a copy of which has now been shared by prosecutors in the case.
That same filing included the email sent by Olivia’s high school guidance counselor stating that the teenager did not participate in any crew program.
In a bombshell court filing submitted in February, Lori and lawyer Sean Berkowitz suggested that the FBI entrapped defendants in the college admission scandal.
The filing was made just before the trial date was announced in the case, and asked that the date be pushed back given the new evidence.
That request was denied by the court on Thursday and the trial was set for October 5 in Boston.
Lori and her husband will be tried alongside five others and both face 50 years in prison for allegedly paying $500,000 in bribes so their daughters Isabella and Olivia could gain admission to the University of Southern California.
It is a case that has rocked the nation for the past year, and seen high-profile executives, heiresses and one award-winning actress serve time behind bars.
Lori believes that this newly released evidence helps to back up her claim that she and husband Mossimo Giannulli were unaware that they were paying bribes.
According to court documents, this evidence consists of notes taken by William Rick Singer while he was cooperating with the FBI.
“Loud and abrasive call with agents. They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there money was going – to the program not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment,” he writes in one note.
He later wrote: “Essentially they are asking me to bend the truth which is what they asked me not to do when working with the agents and Eric Rosen.
“Liz raised her voice to me like she did in the hotel room about agreeing with her that everyone Bribed the schools. This time about asking each person to agree to a lie I was telling them.’
Berkowitz stated that “the Government for the very first time produced in discovery Brady information that is not only exculpatory, but exonerating for the Defendants the Government has charged with bribery.”
He then went on to describe the specific piece of evidence he was referring to, noting that it had been in the custody of prosecutors for months.
“That discovery consists of Rick Singer’s written notes contemporaneously memorializing his discussions with FBI investigators about recorded phone calls that they directed him to make to his clients in order to induce inculpatory statements to be used against those clients in subsequent criminal prosecutions,” read the supplemental memo.
“Singer’s notes indicate that FBI agents yelled at him and instructed him to lie by saying that he told his clients who participated in the alleged ‘side door’ scheme that their payments were bribes, rather than legitimate donations that went to the schools.”
It does not stop there either, with Berkowitz arguing all the defendants should be cleared of wrongdoing, including those who made plea deals with prosecutors.
“The Government is trying to benefit from withholding information in violation of its obligations and the Defendants’ constitutional rights, but then force trial as quickly as it can,” wrote Berkowitz.
“The Government should not be rewarded, nor the Defendants punished, for this kind of egregious lack of candor and violation of its obligations.”
He went on to write in a footnote that the government’s strategy “has already worked to the detriment of those Defendants who elected to plead guilty to engaging in the side door.”
Berkowitz added: “In those cases this Court has made findings that the Defendants’ conduct amounted to bribery based on information provided to it by the government, without the benefit of this evidence that clearly shows that it was not.”