Lori Loughlin will soon head to trial for her alleged role in the college admissions scandal, and speculation is already wild regarding what will happen to her.
Conjecture about what could happen to Lori Loughlin began shortly after fellow celebrity Felicity Huffman received a 14-day sentence for her role in the college admissions scandal.
Huffman pleaded guilty in the scandal and was the first parent to receive a sentence from a judge.
Meanwhile, Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, pleaded not guilty to paying $500,000 in bribes so that their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli, would be team crew recruits for the University of Southern California.
University of Utah law professor Shima Baradaran Baughman said she expects Loughlin to receive a harsher sentence if she is convicted.
“I think Lori Loughlin’s sentence will likely be higher,” she said. “Others in the case have received harsher sentences. Typically when defendants choose to go to trial, they are more likely to receive harsher sentences.”
The proof might already be out there. Los Angeles businessman Devin Sloane was the second parent sentenced in the college admissions scandal, as reported by the Deseret News. He will spend four months in prison in addition to performing 500 hours of community service and paying a $95,000 fine.
Sloane pleaded guilty to paying $250,000 so his son could be a fake water polo recruit for the University of Southern California. That is less money than Loughlin and her husband are accused of paying (and one less child involved).
A former federal prosecutor told Miguel Almaguer on Today.com that the sentence may mean Loughlin could be in trouble.
“If Felicity Huffman did not get probation, none of them will,’’ former federal prosecutor Francey Hakes told Today. “Each sentence, I think, will get longer.”