A judge denied Mossimo Giannulli’s request to finish his sentence at home, in his new reportedly $9.5 million home in the Hidden Hills, on Tuesday, according to Variety. His lawyers had argued in a filing that because he spent nearly two months in isolation (due to an outbreak of the coronavirus at the prison), his punishment was more severe than anticipated. They proposed a form of house arrest to even the keel.
Giannulli is serving a five-month sentence for his involvement in the college-admissions scandal, after he paid $500,000 to get his two daughters in the University of Southern California through the athletic department. He initially pleaded not guilty, but switched his plea to guilty this past May, and was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and honest services wire and mail fraud.
Of the over 50 wealthy parents implicated in the ringleader Rick Singer’s schemes to get their children into elite institutions across the U.S., Giannulli’s case is one of the more well-known—mostly because his wife, actor Lori Loughlin, was also involved, but also because the emails that were released in the prosecution’s filings back in March 2019 had a lot panache. After he declined an invite from a legitimate USC recruiter to set up a tour for one of his daughters, he declined, saying the family was “squared away” and forwarded the email thread to Loughlin, saying, “The nicest I’ve been at blowing off somebody.”
The prosecution argued that Giannulli’s high profile would garner more attention and send the wrong message. They also argued that coronavirus was a well-known quantity when he was sentenced, and so his isolation was not totally unexpected. He’s since been tested negative and released to the prison’s minimum-security general population.
Giannulli is expected to be released in April. Loughlin, on the other hand, served two months and was home after Christmas.
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