Lori Loughlin Lawyer Claims FBI Told Rick Singer To Lie About Star’s Involvement In College Scam
Feb. 27 2020, Updated 11:06 a.m. ET
Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli’s lawyer claims to have evidence that the FBI forced college admissions scam ring leader Rick Singer to lie about the famous couple’s case.
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, attorney Sean M. Berkowitz explains that prosecutors have released previously withheld “exonerating” information about the pair. That includes written notes by Singer that detail troubling conversations he had with the FBI about “recorded phone calls that they directed him to make to his clients in order to induce inculpatory statements to be used against those clients.”
Berkowitz therefore alleges that the FBI told Singer to lie about Loughlin, 55, and Giannulli’s knowledge of the scam in order to make them look guilty. The pair, meanwhile, insist that Singer told them the money they gave him was a donation to the school, not a bribe to get their daughters accepted.
RadarOnline.com readers know the Fuller House actress and her designer husband, 56, have been charged with bribery as well as with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges. Still, they could face jail time if convicted.
After learning of the new evidence, their attorney filed a motion to have the decision on his clients’ trial date postponed.
“Singer’s notes indicate that FBI agents yelled at him and instructed him to lie by saying that he told his clients who participated in the in the alleged ‘side door’ scheme that their payments were bribes, rather than legitimate donations that went to the schools,” Berkowitz states in the court documents. “They further note the Government’s desire to ‘nail’ one of the defendants ‘at all costs.’”
In his personal notes, Singer allegedly admitted that the FBI agents called him various times to persuade him to lie in the case.
“They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where their money was going — to the program not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment,” Singer allegedly wrote, the court documents state.
“Essentially, they are asking me to bend the truth… Liz raised her voice to me like she did in the hotel room about agreeing with her that everyone bribed the schools. This time about asking each person to agree to a lie I was telling them,” he allegedly added, referring to a female FBI agent.
In the documents, Berkowitz claims Singer told FBI agents that he assured Loughlin and Giannulli their money would be going to a University of Southern California program. Therefore, he argues, there is plenty of evidence suggesting that his clients did not know about the bribes and are innocent.
Loughlin and Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 to Singer to get daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli and Isabella Rose Giannulli into USC as crew recruits — though neither had actually participated in the sport.