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Lori Loughlin 'Terrified' Ahead Of Plan To Tell College Admissions Trial Judge She Was 'Scammed' -- Report

Lori Loughlin Terrified College Admissions Story Judge Prison

We feel bad for Lori Loughlin, we really do.

The beloved TV star has lost her career and in all likelihood is about to spend a VERY big chunk of her life in prison thanks to her alleged involvement in the college admissions scandal.

As you might imagine, the actress is feeling the tension ramp up as she gets closer and closer to her criminal trial.

Related: Lori Won’t Change Plea, But Others Have

A source tells ET on Wednesday Lori’s “anxiety is through the roof, she is terrified, and she’s been consumed with trying to put on a happy face but it’s not easy under the circumstances.”

We bet. Lori is facing charges of fraud and money laundering after allegedly paying a $500,000 bribe to corrupt USC officials to help her daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose get conditional athletic acceptance as part of the school’s crew team — despite the fact neither rowed crew.

The source continues:

“The college scandal has been the biggest challenge of Lori’s life. She never imagined her public persona would plummet or she could face jail time. This has affected every aspect of her life.”

Well, it makes sense. Both Aunt Becky and the suburban crime solver from Hallmark‘s Garage Sale Mystery movies are squeaky clean paragons; knowing they’ve been indicted on federal charges is kind of harmful to the audience’s suspension of disbelief.

We mean, they don’t let C-sby sell Jell-O anymore either.

The scandal almost broke apart Lori’s family as well — but the source says it ended up being the kind of healing they all needed:

“What started as Olivia cutting herself off from her mother has been a complete turnaround. Both girls have joined together because they both feel their mother only wanted the best for them. Her daughters are now much closer than they have ever been. At first when the news broke, it felt like her family life imploded, but the family has joined together and have built a united front. They are there for her and each other.”

The source says all they need now is for the nightmare to end.

“The family is ready for their next step in life. They have been living under a dark cloud for far too long, and are ready for answers.”

But will they like those answers? Is Lori’s legal defense going as well as her family unity?

Well…

“Lori has been trying to stay positive and resolved herself to the fact she’s a good person that meant no wrong and that she made the right decision to share an attorney with her husband and not take a plea.”

There was talk the Full House star had considered she may have been wrong not to take a plea deal after fellow indictee Felicity Huffman‘s verdict.

Huffman — who came forward, pleaded guilty, and pledged remorse right away — will soon serve two weeks in prison. After some community service and paying fines, she’ll be done and able to put the whole thing behind her.

Related: William H. Macy Worried For Wife’s ‘Well-Being’ In Prison

But Lori’s worst days are still ahead.

The source says while Lori “hopes when the judge hears her story, she will beat the charges,” she isn’t as positive as her friends:

“Her friends have remained optimistic for her yet it’s been very difficult not to second guess everything, and she’s had many sleepless nights.”

So what is she telling the judge?

“Lori is sticking with her story that she and her husband were scammed by Rick Singer. She has claimed to friends that they always thought the money was going to a charity through the school. She says she doesn’t feel for one minute they were breaking the law.”

A charity… through the school?

OK, we cannot express how badly Lori’s story is hurt by the evidence in the indictment, including the confession from Rick Singer, the sort of middleman who set up all the bribes through his fake charity, as well as the guilty pleas of many others indicted as part of the scandal.

But let’s just stick to common sense for a second:

Lori wants the court to believe she paid half a million dollars under the table to what she thought was a charity? And she thought, what? She was impressing USC with her philanthropy?

And what about the fake documentation of rowing credentials she and hubby Mossimo Giannulli had to provide the school for their paperwork? Photos of the girls — who again, had not ever participated in crew — rowing?

And the college letters which explained in clear terms this was an athletic acceptance for her daughters — who, we cannot stress enough, WERE NOT ROWERS — didn’t come across as fishy?

Y’all. There’s playing dumb, then there’s playing dumb.

We feel bad for Lori. But that doesn’t mean we believe she did nothing wrong.

[Image via Owen Beiny/WENN.]

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Oct 03, 2019 07:00am PDT

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