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Wednesday, 13 March 2019

FOREIGN:Actress Lori Taken Into Custody in 'Varsity Blues' College Admissions Scam


PHOTO: Lori Loughlin attends the 2018 Creative Arts Emmy Awards at Microsoft Theater, Sept. 8, 2018, in Los Angeles. (JC Olivera/WireImage via Getty Images)




Actress Lori Loughlin was taken into custody by the FBI Wednesday in Los Angeles after she, fellow movie star Felicity Huffman and 48 others were charged in a $25 million college admissions scam that has prompted repercussions from Hollywood to the boardrooms of major companies.

Loughlin is expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles later Wednesday to face fraud charges stemming from the nationwide investigation.

Loughlin, 54, flew to Los Angeles overnight from Canada, where she was filming a Hallmark movie, sources told ABC News.

A former cast member on the ABC sitcom "Full House," Loughlin and Oscar-nominated actress Huffman, 56, are among 33 parents charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the nationwide scam to get their children into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
The feds dubbed the investigation "Operation Varsity Blues" and said it was triggered by an unrelated investigation by FBI agents in Boston.

Loughlin's husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, 55, was arrested Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and appeared in Los Angeles federal court.

Loughlin and Giannulli "agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team -- despite the fact that they did not participate in crew -- thereby facilitating their admission to USC," according to the indictment.

More than 300 FBI agents fanned out across the country on Tuesday morning with arrest warrants for 46 people.Image result for Actress Felicity Huffman is seen inside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles, March 12, 2019. (David Mcnew/AFP/Getty Images)

Andrew Lelling, U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, announced the stunning indictment Tuesday and said the parents charged in the scam represent "a catalog of wealth and privilege."
As shock waves from the arrests spread across the country, the fallout for some of the defendants was swift.

Hercules Capital, Inc., one of the largest venture capital companies in the country, announced Wednesday that its chairman and chief executive officer Manuel Henriquez had stepped down.

Henriquez, 55, of Atherton, California, and his wife, Elizabeth, 56, were among those charged in the case.

Other schools named in the indictment are UCLA, Wake Forest and the University of Texas.

USC officials fired its famed water polo coach, Jovan Vanvic, who allegedly accepted bribes in exchange for scholarships for children of the rich. USC also terminated Donna Heinel, the school's senior associate athletic director, who was also charged.

Stanford University also fired its longtime sailing coach John Vandemoer, who has already pleaded guilty to federal charges of racketeering conspiracy.

Wake Forest officials placed its head volleyball coach, William Ferguson, 48, on administrative leave after he was indicted.

Vanvic, 57, who led the USC Trojans to 16 NCAA national championships, was arrested Tuesday in Hawaii at a Waikiki hotel. He made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday afternoon wearing a gold and cardinal red USC athletic jacket.

"The charges brought forth today are troubling and should be a concern for all of higher education. We are looking into these allegations to determine the extent to which NCAA rules may have been violated."

The NCAA announced it will launch an investigation into the widespread cheating scandal that implicated nine coaches at elite schools.


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