Loughlin, husband plead not guilty in college scam

Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, are pleading not guilty to charges they paid $500,000 in bribes as part of a college admissions scam, according to court documents filed Monday. The couple is among 50 people charged in the nationwide scandal in which wealthy parents allegedly paid to get their children into elite universities.

Loughlin, who played Aunt Becky on the ABC sitcom Full House and Abigail Stanton in the Hallmark Channel’s When Calls the Heart, and Giannulli are accused of bribing officials to let their daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits even though neither is a rower. Prosecutors last week hit them and more than a dozen other parents with a money laundering conspiracy charge on top of the mail fraud conspiracy charge they already faced.

Some of the other implicated parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, agreed last week to plead guilty to the first round of charges.