Last week, after Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli pleaded not guilty in the college admissions cheating scandal, a slew of anonymous sources defended the couple to tabloids, claiming they didn’t realize their alleged bribery was against the law.
“You read the complaint and they look like criminal masterminds,” one source told People. “But they really didn’t know the legalities of what was going on. They’re not lawyers and they’re not experts. They were parents who simply wanted to make sure that their daughters got into a good school.”
But the “we had no idea” excuse is, basically, not a defense at all, criminal attorney Mari Henderson tells ELLE.com. “You learn almost in the first days of law school that ignorance of the law is no excuse,” she says. “Just because you didn’t know it was illegal is not any kind of defense.”
The Full House actress and her fashion-designer husband are accused of paying approximately $500,000 to falsely designate their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team. Henderson says even if Loughlin and Giannulli were to come out and say, “I did not know it was illegal to do that,” it’s clear they knew they were “lying to UCS, because if you look at the complaint, they have emails and tape recorded conversations.”
According to the affidavit, Giannulli wrote William “Rick” Singer, the man accused of masterminding the scam, a letter that read, in part, “I’d like to maybe sit with you after your session with the girls as I have some concerns and want to fully understand the game plan and make sure we have a roadmap for success as it relates to [our daughter] and getting her into a school other than ASU!”
Singer also allegedly requested Loughlin and Giannulli send him an “action” shot of Olivia Jade to present her as a member of the crew team. The couple allegedly delivered a picture of her on an indoor rowing machine.
Henderson believes Loughlin should have entered a plea deal. That’s what Felicity Huffman, the former Desperate Housewives star also charged in the scandal, did along with 14 other defendants. “It’ll only get worse for [Loughlin],” Henderson says. “It’s a very, very strong case. They have a lot of damning emails and phone calls and evidence against her. It is really playing with fire here.”
Just one day after pleading not guilty, Loughlin was hit with an additional charge of money laundering and Olivia Jade received a “target letter” from the Department of Justice, meaning she’s the subject of a federal investigation. According to The New York Times, other students have received similar target letters, but so far none have been charged.
“There is a high risk that [Olivia Jade] could be involved as a witness if it goes to trial. But there is a risk that she could be involved as a defendant, and that is the risk that Lori Loughlin ran when she decided to plead not guilty,” Henderson says. “Felicity Huffman plead guilty off the bat, and she basically spared her daughter from any allegations that her daughter knew of it or could be a defendant.”
“It is going to be hard to prove that [Olivia Jade] did not know [about the alleged bribery],” she adds, “and she could be charged as a defendant, and that is the risk these parents who plead not guilty are running. They could get their children involved as criminal defendants.”
Not much has been revealed about Loughlin and Giannulli’s legal strategy yet, but Henderson believes their attorneys don’t have much control over their clients.
“I think they advised her to plead guilty, because to advise her to do anything else is very, very, very risky, and I think she doesn’t realize the seriousness of what’s going on,” Henderson says. “I don’t think she realizes the consequences of [her actions], and I think her attorneys aren’t able to control her right now, or they’re giving her advice, but she isn’t listening to it.”