EXCLUSIVE: Conflict of interest? Lori Loughlin faces hiring NEW legal team in college admissions scandal because her defense also represents USC, 'where her two daughters were admitted after paying $500k'
- Lori Loughlin could be forced to hire an entirely new legal team in her college admissions fraud case over a conflict of interest, DailyMail.com has learned
- The Fuller House star is being represented by Latham and Watkins LLP, which is also representing the University of Southern California
- Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of paying $500K to facilitate the admission of their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella to USC
- Government prosecutors have requested a hearing over the indicted parents who pleaded not guilty in the bribery scandal and their attorneys on Thursday
- Loughlin plans to fight charges of fraud conspiracy and money-laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
- The actress and her husband could face another lawsuit as papers indicate 'USC may have civil disputes with one or both sometime in the future'
Lori Loughlin could be forced to hire an entirely new legal team in her college admissions fraud case because her defense is also representing the University of Southern California, creating a conflict of interest, DailyMail.com has learned.
Government prosecutors requested a hearing over the firms representing some of the parents indicted in the bribery scandal, including Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli, according to court papers filed in Massachusetts on Thursday.
They claim there is a conflict of interest because the same firms representing the accused parents are also representing the universities that accepted their children.
Loughlin and Giannulli are represented by Latham and Watkins LLP, which is also representing USC.
The famous parents are accused of paying $500K to facilitate the admission of their daughters Olivia Jade and Isabella as purported crew recruits, according to court papers.
Loughlin and Giannulli could face another lawsuit as court papers indicate 'USC may have civil disputes with one or both sometime in the future.'
Lori Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli (pictured leaving court on April 3) could be forced to hire a new legal team in her college admissions fraud case because her defense is also representing the University of Southern California, creating a conflict of interest
The famous parents are accused of paying $500K to facilitate the admission of their daughters Olivia Jade (left) and Isabella (right) as purported crew recruits, according to court papers
Loughlin and Giannulli are represented by Latham and Watkins LLP, which is also representing USC (campus is pictured)
Government prosecutors also take issue with law firms representing multiple defendants in the case.
The filing states: 'While some of these conflicts may, upon inquiry, prove waivable, the government respectfully submits that others could require the disqualification of counsel in the event the conflicts cannot be adequately addressed.'
Fuller House star Loughlin plans to fight charges of fraud conspiracy and money-laundering, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
On Monday, lawyers representing a number of the parents who pleaded not guilty, including Loughlin, revealed their legal strategy.
The attorneys will argue that the money they paid to various universities was not an attempt to bribe their children's way into college, but that their clients simply believed they were making charitable donations.
'If the money went to a school, it's not a bribe,' said Martin Weinberg, an attorney who represents Canadian businessman David Sidoo.
'Many of the clients would contend that if payments were made to a charity or sports organization, that it is not a bribe.'
Sidoo, a Vancouver business man, philanthropist, and former professional football player in the Canadian Football League, allegedly paid $200,000 to have a test-taker pretend to be his sons and take the SATs.
Sidoo, Loughlin, Giannulli, and Desperate Housewives actor Felicity Huffman are among 50 people who were charged in March with participating in a vast scheme in which wealthy parents conspired with William 'Rick' Singer to use bribery and other forms of fraud to secure the admission of their children to top universities.
Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman (pictured on May 13) was also charged in the scandal and pleaded guilty to taking part in the bribery scheme, becoming the highest-profile person so far to admit to allegations that have also ensnared prominent college coaches and figures from the business world
Loughlin and Giannulli provided Singer photographs of their daughters in order to create fake athletic profiles for them, which a USC athletics official in exchange for bribes then used to support recruiting them, prosecutors said
Huffman, unlike Loughlin and others, pleaded guilty. In total, 13 of the 33 parents who have been charged have struck plea deals with federal prosecutors.
Prosecutors allege that Loughlin, 54, and Giannulli agreed with Singer to pay $500,000 to have their two daughters named as recruits to USC's crew team, even though they did not row competitively, to help them gain admission.
Loughlin and Giannulli provided Singer photographs of their daughters in order to create fake athletic profiles for them, which a USC athletics official in exchange for bribes then used to support recruiting them, prosecutors said.
Huffman and the 12 others are due to be sentenced later this year.
Two of the defendants who have decided to fight the charges are Manuel and Elizabeth Henriquez.
Manuel Henriquez, the CEO of a Silicon Valley venture capital lender, and his wife are alleged to have paid more than $1 million in order to get their daughter, Isabelle, admitted into Georgetown University as a tennis recruit.
Georgetown tennis coach Gordon Ernst, who has also been indicted for accepting bribes, allegedly received $950,000 from the Henriquezes in return for designating Isabelle as a tennis player.
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Among those indicted are Manuel and Elizabeth Henriquez (left) and David Sidoo (right). Lawyers representing them are expected to argue that they paid money to athletic departments of universities, which count as charities and thus can't be considered a bribe
The couple's lawyer, Aaron Katz, said that they 'did not know that it was a bribe' when they paid the money.
'It's a question of whether Singer told the parents that the money was going to athletic programs rather than the pockets of the coaches,' Katz said.
'If other parents were told that, then it is part of our argument that the parents did not know that it was a bribe.'
Katz said he has spoken with 'many, if not all the defendants' and they are expected to make similar arguments in court.
Ali Khosroshahin, the former head coach of the women’s soccer team at USC, agreed to plead guilty on Monday to charges that he falsely designated the children of wealthy parents as recruits
In court, however, a federal prosecutor dismissed this line of defense.
'It doesn't matter if the money went to the coach's program or the coach directly,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Rosen told Judge M. Paige Kelly of the United States District Court in Massachusetts.
'A bribe is simply a quid pro quo, it doesn't matter where the money went.'
One of the defendants who initially pleaded not guilty has now decided to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
Ali Khosroshahin, the former head coach of the women's soccer team at USC, agreed to plead guilty on Monday to charges that he falsely designated the children of wealthy parents as recruits.
In exchange, he helped gain their admission to the Los Angeles-based university, according to USA Today.
According to prosecutors, Khosroshahin, who coached women's soccer at USC from 2007 to 2013, and his former assistant, Laura Janke, received $350,000 in bribes from Singer.
In return, they falsely designated four recruits as soccer players, according to the indictment.
The money was directed to a private soccer team controlled by Khosroshahin.
Janke pleaded guilty last month to similar charges. She is alleged to have helped Loughlin's daughters, Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose, get into USC.
