Cry me a river, Lori Loughlin’s designer hubby Mossimo Giannulli is going to have to cool his heels in prison a little longer. A federal judge Tuesday rebuffed Giannulli’s bid to be released to home confinement, saying there was no “extraordinary or compelling reason” to do so.
via: People
Lori Loughlin’s husband Mossimo Giannulli will not be getting out of jail early.
Earlier this month, the fashion designer asked to leave jail and serve the remainder of his five-month prison sentence, related to the high-profile college admissions scandal, in home confinement.
In court documents obtained by PEOPLE, attorneys for the 57-year-old designer said Giannulli spent 56 days in quarantine due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and that it’s taken a “significant” toll on his “mental, physical, and emotional well-being.”
“Mr. Giannulli spent almost 40% of his total sentence confined in solitary quarantine, despite testing negative for COVID-19 at least ten times and despite his counsel’s multiple requests that [the Bureau of Prisons] release him from quarantine,” his lawyers said in the filing.
But on Tuesday, a judge ruled against Giannulli, saying he will stay in jail.
“Giannulli is not entitled to a modification of his sentence because he has not demonstrated an ‘extraordinary and compelling’ reason warranting his release,” Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton wrote in his order. “Although the Court recognizes the danger associated with COVID-19 and the particular risk of transmission in penitentiary facilities, the fear of COVID-19 alone, without more, is insufficient to warrant release.”
In the ruling, Judge Gorton noted that Giannulli is no longer in quarantine. “Although defendant’s quarantine was longer than anticipated, he has since been released to the general population,” Gorton wrote. “He has given no extraordinary or compelling reason why his current circumstances in the camp warrant immediate release.”
Giannulli was booked into federal prison in Lompoc, near Santa Barbara, California, on Nov. 19.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud and one count of honest services wire and mail fraud in May.
His wife, Loughlin, 56, admitted to one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud. The couple was caught up in the college admissions scandal in which more than 50 parents allegedly bribed their wealthy children’s way into prestigious universities.
According to the criminal complaint against them, the couple was accused of paying $500,000 to Rick Singer and Key Worldwide Foundation to falsely designate their daughters — Olivia Jade, 21, and Isabella Rose, 22 — as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, even though neither ever participated in the sport.
Loughlin was released from a federal correctional facility in Dublin, California, on Dec. 28 after serving nearly two months in jail.
Giannulli is expected to be released around Easter.
Good on the judge for saying there were no “extraordinary or compelling reason” to let Giannulli out of prison early.
