VERY SERIOUS MISCONDUCT: Did US Prosecutors And The FBI Coerced False Evidence In College Admissions Cases, Actress Lori Loughlin’s Attorneys Say “YES”

Will The New Allegations Of Prosecutorial Misconduct Lead To The Indictments Thrown Out!

In US District Court in Boston, Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton described the allegations of prosecutorial misconduct as “very serious" and directed Loughlin’s attorneys to file a motion to dismiss, suppress evidence, or sanction prosecutors by March 13. Prosecutors must file a response by March 27. Loughlin’s Attorneys also alleged in a court filing that new information shows that FBI agents bullied the key cooperating witness, Rick Singer, into ensnaring his clients in the investigation. “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 wrote, according to the defense filing. “Essentially they are asking me to bend the truth.” Lawyers called the new evidence "devastating to the government’s case," adding that it "demonstrates that the Government has been improperly withholding core exculpatory information, employing a 'win at all costs' effort rather than following their obligation to do justice." They predicted it would set off a series of motions of defendants, including potential motions to dismiss the indictments.

BOSTON – Recent developments in the US College Admissions scandal is exposing what defence attorneys say is very serious prosecutorial misconduct that is threatening to unravel the numerous serious charges brought against wealthy parents, including Canadians, who are accused of bribing or paying to have their children admitted to ivy-league US colleges and universities.

Lawyers for actress Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli accused federal prosecutors on Thursday, saying they concealed evidence for more than a year that could exonerate their clients.

Loughlin’s Attorneys also alleged in a court filing that new information shows that FBI agents bullied the key cooperating witness, Rick Singer, into ensnaring his clients in the investigation.

The attorneys accused the prosecution of engaging in misconduct by withholding Singer’s notes of conversations with FBI agents until Wednesday. The defense contends that Loughlin and Giannulli believed the payments were legitimate charitable contributions to USC, and that Singer’s notes show that the FBI was pressuring him not to say that in his recorded phone calls.

“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 wrote, according to the defense filing. “Essentially they are asking me to bend the truth.”

The defense also says the FBI agents “repeatedly yelled at” Singer, reported Variety.

“To obtain a conviction here, the Government must prove that Defendants had the specific intent to defraud USC, and that their payments were bribes as opposed to legitimate donations,” wrote defense attorney Sean Berkowitz. “Obviously, if Singer — an experienced and (at the time) respected college-admissions counselor — told Defendants that their payments were legitimate and would fund a university program, such information would be exculpatory…”

Prosecutors say the admitted ringleader of the scheme, William “Rick” Singer, directed payments to corrupt coaches, college officials and test proctors in on the scheme. Parents masked some bribes by disguising them as contributions to Singer’s sham charity, prosecutors say. Singer has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government’s investigation.

The defense contends that if Loughlin and Giannulli thought they were making legitimate donations to the University of Southern California, then they lacked the intent to knowingly defraud the school, a key element necessary for conviction.

“Loud and abrasive call with agents,” Singer typed at one point on his phone, according to the defense filing. “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."

This disclosure should have been made no later than 30 days after indictment under court rules, Loughlin’s lawyers wrote. The couple was initially arrested with the other defendants in March 2019 and indicted by a grand jury the following month. Multiple superseding indictments have since been brought, reported USA Today.

Prosecutors have said they learned of Singer’s iPhone notes in October 2018 and initially “believed the notes were privileged [between Singer and his lawyer] and did not review them further.” This week, “Singer’s counsel agreed to waive privilege over the notes, and so we are now producing them” to the defense, prosecutors wrote.

In court on Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Eric S. Rosen told Gorton that the government alleges the payments were “still a bribe," no matter how Singer characterized them.

“This was a quid pro quo,” Rosen said, adding that multiple parents have pleaded guilty in the “Varsity Blues” case and conceded the payments were bribes.

However, it’s well known that prosecutors strong-armed many of the parents into taking the plea deals with intimidation of serious punishment and fines if they went ahead with their defence. Many parents have publicly said that US legal system is weighed against individuals who want to exercise their right to a fair defence but legal bullying by the prosecutors forces them to take lousy plea deals so they can move on with their lives.

William J. Trach, a lawyer for Loughlin, said prosecutors have acknowledged that making legitimate college donations with the hope of helping a child’s chances at admission isn’t a crime.

He also said prosecutors have previously denied the existence of any written documentation of Singer claiming to tell the parents the payouts were legitimate donations.

Gorton set a tentative trial date for Loughlin, her husband, and several other defendants, for October 5.

The defense had asked the court to hold off on setting a trial date in light of the new revelations.

The defense asked judge Gorton to delay setting the trial until a federal magistrate decides whether the government must release additional material. Parents' attorneys have said the government failed to turn over all exculpatory evidence; in particular, FBI "302 reports" that detail witness statements and interview notes taken during the investigation.

But at a status conference hearing in Boston federal court for attorneys of 15 parents fighting charges, Gorton said the case "needs to be resolved expeditiously." Although he called the defense's allegations "very serious," he cited an interest in the case not only among defendants but the "general public."

ury selection for the first trial of eight parents, including Loughlin and Giannulli, will begin Sept. 28. Gorton said the trial would take about four weeks.

“Needless to say this is a high-profile case, but it is not going to be tried in the newspaper or the internet," Gorton warned, adding that "there will be consequences" if attorneys don't show constrain in that regard.

“Were they making legitimate donations that would help their kids into school or were they lining officials' pockets with money?" Loughlin’s lawyer Trach said. "That’s the whole case."

He said undisclosed material like these notes are precisely what attorneys of parents have sought. “The note itself refers to a loud and abrasive call. We haven't heard that call. If that call exists, we would like it," Trach said.

Singer, in the same notes, also wrote that FBI authorities "want to nail Gordon at all costs," referring to prominent New York attorney Gordon Caplan. Caplan pleaded guilty to paying $75,000 to have someone correct answers on his daughter's ACT test to inflate her score. He was sentenced in October to one month in prison.

Attorney Sean Berkowitz, in Wednesday's court filing, said material from Singer's iPhone should have been released no more than 30 days after parents were indicted. He called it "devastating to the government’s case," adding that it "demonstrates that the Government has been improperly withholding core exculpatory information, employing a 'win at all costs' effort rather than following their obligation to do justice."

He predicted it would set off a series of motions of defendants, including potential motions to dismiss the indictments.

Thirty-one of 53 defendants charged in the college admissions case have pleaded guilty while the others dig in for trial. Fourteen parents and two college coaches have been sentenced for their crimes, with sentences ranging from no prison to nine months behind bars.

With Files from USA Today, Boston Globe & Variety