You've probably heard that Lori Loughlin (aka Aunt Becky on Full House) was arrested back in March. She's accused of spending $500,000 in illegal bribes to get her two daughters into USC.
Dozens of other parents were arrested for similar crimes — including Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman. Many of the accused, including Huffman, have pled guilty to the charges and apologized for their actions.
But Lori Loughlin has gone a slightly different route since her arrest — one that's left many people scratching their heads and wondering, frankly, what the heck her lawyers are thinking.
First, she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, reportedly rejected a plea deal back in April. A plea deal likely would have come with a reduced amount of prison time for the couple.
According to People, Lori refused to plead guilty because she didn't think she did anything wrong. A source close to Lori told the magazine:
It’s just taking some time for it to sink in that what she was allegedly doing could be considered illegal...From the beginning, she didn’t want to take a deal, because she felt that she hadn’t done anything that any mom wouldn’t have done, if they had the means to do so. So this wasn’t her being obstinate; this was her truly not understanding the seriousness of the allegations.
But the couple might regret not taking a plea deal, because 13 other parents involved in the scam DID make a deal. And just one day later, prosecutors slapped Lori and Mossimo with another, more serious crime: conspiracy to commit money laundering.
So for those keeping score at home, Loughlin and Giannulli now have two big charges against them: conspiracy to commit mail fraud (that's the original charge), and conspiracy to commit money laundering (that's the second charge that came one day after they didn't plead guilty). They are pleading not guilty to both.
And to make matters worse, Lori's courtroom behavior has been a little, well, bizarre. She made headlines back in April when she traveled to Boston for her first court appearance, and was all smiles as she signed autographs for screaming fans.
“Prosecutors and judges want to see remorse. They want to see you understand culpability,” a legal expert told Rolling Stone of the situation. “She showed none of that.”
Basically, things aren't looking AMAZING for Aunt Becky. So perhaps you're wondering: Just how much prison time could Lori actually be facing now?
The answer: Up to 40 years.
According to CNN, her two charges come with a maximum sentence of 20 years apiece. So she'll spend 40 years behind bars if she is found guilty and gets the maximum sentence on both.
And how much prison time would she have gotten if she'd taken an initial plea deal? Well, it's impossible to say for sure. But Felicity Huffman, who did take a deal, is facing a recommended sentence of just four months.
And that's pretty much that on that! I need to go lie down.
