The University of Southern California coach who made Lori Loughlin’s daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli’s fake crew profile agreed to plead guilty in the college admissions case on Tuesday, April 23.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced that Laura Janke will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. The 36-year-old also said she will cooperate with the government’s investigation.
The former assistant coach for USC’s women’s soccer team was among the 12 people who were previously indicted for their alleged involvement in the nationwide scandal. She had been accused of conspiring with the scheme’s mastermind, William “Rick” Singer, to create multiple falsified profiles for the children of wealthy parents in order to have them admitted into prestigious universities.
Janke faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine and restitution if she is found guilty, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s press release on Tuesday.
CNN obtained a criminal complaint that claims Singer emailed Janke on July 14, 2017, and asked her to make a fake profile for Olivia Jade, then 17. Janke allegedly responded, “Ok sounds good. Please send me the pertinent information and I will get started.” Two days later, Singer emailed Loughlin, 54, and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, to request an “action picture,” according to CNN. The fashion designer, 55, allegedly responded with a photo of the couple’s youngest daughter on a rowing machine.
Authorities previously stated that Olivia Jade, now 19, was subsequently accepted to USC as a crew recruit, even though she never competitively competed in the sport. Loughlin and Giannulli have also been accused of paying bribes to get their eldest daughter, Bella, 20, into the university. Their alleged payments for their two children totaled $500,000.
The Full House alum and the Mossimo founder, who married in 1997, pleaded not guilty on April 15 to two charges: money laundering and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
“The feds have an overwhelming amount of evidence against [Loughlin], including emails, phone calls and financial documents,” Los Angeles-based lawyer Neama Rahmani recently told Us Weekly, noting that the couple “could spend years, if not decades, behind bars.”
