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Associated Press

Full House actress Lori Loughlin was released from prison Monday after spending two months behind bars for paying half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into college.
Loughlin was released from the federal lock-up in Dublin, California, where she had been serving her sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scheme, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.
Her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, is serving his five-month sentence at a prison in Lompoc near Santa Barbara, California.
Giannulli is expected to be released on April 17, the Bureau of Prisons says. Prosecutors said Giannulli deserved a tougher sentence because he was “the more active participant in the scheme”.

Loughlin and Giannulli were among the highest-profile defendants charged in the scheme, which revealed the lengths to which some wealthy parents will go to get their children into elite universities.
Authorities said parents funnelled bribes through a fake charity run by an admissions consultant to get their kids into top schools with fake athletic credentials or rigged test scores.
The famous couple admitted in May to paying US$500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits even though neither girl was a rower.
Their guilty plea was a stunning reversal for the couple, whose lawyers had insisted for a year were innocent and accused investigators of fabricating evidence against them.
The only public comments either Loughlin or Giannulli made about the case since their arrest last year came at their sentencing hearings in August.


Loughlin, who gained fame for her role as the wholesome Aunt Becky in the sitcom Full House, told the judge her actions “helped exacerbate existing inequalities in society” and pledged to do everything in her power to use her experience as a “catalyst to do good”.
Their younger daughter, social media influencer Olivia Jade, made her first public remarks about the scandal this month on the series Red Table Talk. Olivia Jade said she does not want or deserve pity.
“We messed up. I just want a second chance to be like, ‘I recognise I messed up.’ And for so long I wasn’t able to talk about this because of the legalities behind it,” she said.
Fury at ‘influencer’ Olivia Giannulli, face of US college bribery scam
Loughlin and Giannulli were both initially supposed to report to prison on November 19, but prosecutors and defence lawyers agreed Loughlin could start her sentence on October 30. Loughlin also agreed that she would not seek early release on coronavirus-related grounds, prosecutors said.
Of the nearly 60 parents, coaches and others charged in the case, about a dozen are still fighting the allegations. The sentences for the parents who have pleaded so far in the case range from a couple weeks to nine months.
Actor Felicity Huffman served nearly two weeks in prison last year for paying an admissions consultant US$15,000 to have a proctor correct her daughter’s SAT answers.


US college scam mastermind Rick Singer gets 3½ years in prison

Two wealthy parents found guilty in first ‘Varsity Blues’ US college admissions scandal trial

Actress Lori Loughlin released after two months in jail for US college admissions scam

Tycoon Jie ‘Jack’ Zhao and Harvard coach Peter Brand charged in US$1.5 million bribery scheme

US college admissions bribery scandal 2019

Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, clothing designer Mossimo Giannulli, leave federal court in Boston in April 2019. Photo: AP

FILE - Olivia Jade Giannulli arrives at the 5th annual People Magazine "Ones To Watch" party in Los Angeles on Oct. 4, 2017. Giannulli, the daughter of the “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, discussed on the Facebook Watch series “Red Table Talk” how she’s been affected by the college admissions scandal involving her parents. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

A man walks through a gate to the Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in March. Photo: Reuters

A house that once belonged to ex-Harvard fencing coach Peter Brand in Needham, Massachusetts. Photo: The Boston Globe via AP

College admissions scam: Chinese mum Xiaoning Sui pleads guilty to paying US$400,000 bribe for son’s UCLA spot

Xiaoning Sui, a Chinese national living in Canada, leaves federal court in Boston on Friday. Photo: AP

Admissions scandal: Felicity Huffman gets early release from one of ‘10 cushiest prisons’ in US

Actress Felicity Huffman leaves federal court in Boston with her brother Moore Huffman Jnr (left) in September, after she was sentenced in a nationwide college admissions bribery scandal. Photo: AP

FILE - This July 20, 2006, file photo, shows the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, Calif. A representative for Felicity Huffman Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, says the actress has reported to the federal prison in California to serve a two-week sentence in the college admissions scandal. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

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The Full House star paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into the University of Southern California
Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are among the highest-profile defendants charged in the scheme



The Full House star paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into he University of Southern California.


Actress Lori Loughlin released after two months in jail for US college admissions scam

The Full House star paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into the University of Southern California Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are among the highest-profile defendants charged in the scheme

The Full House star paid half a million dollars in bribes to get her two daughters into the University of Southern California

Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are among the highest-profile defendants charged in the scheme