Actress Lori Loughlin, who plays the town Mayor on When Calls The Heart was arrested Tuesday and charged with allegedly paying $500k in bribes to get her daughters into the University of Southern California.
Loughlin is the subject of a federal indictment following an extensive FBI investigation named “Operation Varsity Blues.”
The couple first agreed to the admissions scheme for their older daughter, Isabella Rose, because they were told her grades were at or just below the “low end” of USC’s admission standards, according to court documents.
In October 2016, CW-1 (believed to be cooperating witness William Singer) instructed the couple to “send $50,000 to Donna Heinel, senior women’s associate athletic director at USC.” The daughter was notified she was admitted in March 2017, and one week later the couple was sent an invoice from Key Worldwide Foundation (KWF) for $200,000.
In April, Giannulli wired the money to KWF. “The following day, an employee of CW-1 sent the Giannullis a receipt from KWF falsely indicated that ‘no goods or services were exchanged’ for the purported donation” to the purported charity. (In order to qualify as a charity and as a tax deduction, no goods or services can be exchanged for supposed charitable donations.”
The Giannullis also followed the same process for their younger daughter to get into USC, the affidavit says.
William Singer (believed to be CW-1), is accused of running the scam. He reportedly worked with law enforcement agents to capture both Loughlin and Giannulli on tape acknowledging they’d paid Heinel to get their daughters into the school as crew athletes.