UPDATE 6:33 P.M. EST: And just like that, Aunt Becky is out on bond — a VERY STEEP bond.
The Fuller House star was hit with a $1 million bond, the same as her husband on Tuesday. Both were allowed to put up their home as collateral to walk out of prison until their shared court date of March 29.
Once again, it’s good to be rich.
More importantly for Hallmark Channel fans, yes she will also be allowed to leave the country to fly to Vancouver, British Columbia to continue filming the Garage Sale Mystery movie series.
We hear the next one is the Case of the Stolen Opportunity.
Lori Loughlin surrendered to the FBI Wednesday morning.
Man, that is a sentence we never thought we’d write.
For those who haven’t heard, Aunt Becky is headed from Full House to the Big House after being charged for her alleged role in an enormous college admissions scam.
Related: Lori Deleted Her Social Media
According to federal prosecutors, information in an unrelated case lead to a year-long investigation known as, we kid you not, Operation Varsity Blues, the results of which were over 40 indictments of parents and faculty.
Feds say parents paid bribes to school officials to doctor test results and falsify athletic records to get their kids into prestigious universities like Georgetown, Stanford, Wake Forest, and Yale. The money was allegedly laundered through the Key Worldwide Foundation charity run by businessman William Rick Singer.
Lori and hubby Mossimo Giannulli — yes, the mononymous clothing designer Mossimo — are accused of paying $500,000 to get their daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, fraudulently designated as part of the crew team at USC despite the fact neither is involved in the sport. The parents were charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud.
On Tuesday agents showed up at their home and arrested Mossimo, but Lori was in Vancouver filming the latest Garage Sale Mystery movie, ironically in which she plays someone who *solves* crimes.
Lori made arrangements with authorities to return to the States and turn herself in to agents upon landing. She will next be delivered to a federal building and processed by marshals.
Man, the image of Aunt Becky being handcuffed on the airport runway like some kind of master criminal… what a wild world we are living in.
The scheme did involve one other famous couple, Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman and Shameless dad William H. Macy, who are accused of paying a $15,000 bribe to cheat up their daughter’s SAT score.
It looks at the moment like Macy will not face charges. It’s unclear why, as Huffman’s “spouse” was listed in the legal docs as being aware of and involved in the alleged scheme. It’s possible there’s just a difference in the amount of concrete evidence — like who signed the check.
Huffman on the other hand was arrested on Tuesday — complete with armed agents drawing their guns, the whole nine yards (or millimeters in this case). For a school entrance exam cheating scandal.
Remember that next time one of Trump’s cronies complains they’re being unfairly treated.
Despite the fact a couple celebrities were involved, this is NOT a story about “immoral Hollywood” as we’re starting to see some claim. Remember, there were dozens of non-famous folks involved; we’re just hearing about the celebs because, well, frankly it’s juicy as hell.
No, this is about rich folks using money to game the system. And it has real life consequences.
Jared Kushner‘s father pledged $2.5 million to Harvard just before his son was accepted despite an unremarkable academic record. It was all infamously uncovered in a book called The Price Of Admission, published way back in 2006, before anyone cared who this random rich kid was.
Now he’s the most trusted adviser to the President of the United States — despite not being able to even get security clearance without Donald Trump ordering it.
He’s not just the First Son-In-Law, he’s Trump’s Golden Boy, tasked with, and we swear we are not exaggerating:
- Middle East peace talks
- the opioid crisis
- criminal justice reform
- U.S./Mexico relations
- U.S./China relations
A student whose own high school administrators were quoted as saying they were “disappointed” in Harvard’s decision to accept him when there were many more deserving kids at their school.
So yes. This stuff matters.
Look, we love Felicity Huffman. We ADORE Aunt Becky. Always have.
But this is no joke. And we don’t think they should get just a wrist slap for this either.
What do YOU think??
[Image via FayesVision/WENN.]
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