Lori Loughlin’s daughter caught up in US college admissions scandal

Hollywood star Lori Loughlin is accused of paying $US710,000 so her daughters got into an elite college on the rowing team. Neither have ever sat in a boat.

Olivia Jade with mother and actress Lori Loughlin. Picture: Instagram

When social media celebrity Olivia Jade Giannulli started her freshman year at the University of Southern California last autumn, she wasn’t just looking forward to the typical collegiate rites of passage.

“I’m most excited to meet new people,” the teenager told Teen Vogue.

“And change up my content on YouTube to do more college-themed videos!”

Ms Giannulli was entering USC as a communications major and an established teen lifestyle blogger and social-media celebrity.

Ms Giannulli’s mother, actress Lori Loughlin, rose to fame as a teenager the 1980s way: by appearing on soap operas and other television shows. Her daughter, now 19 years old, became a famous teen in true 21st-century fashion: by becoming an Instagram star.

Both mother and daughter have been thrust into an unwelcome spotlight after today’s unveiling of “Operation Varsity Blues,” a federal investigation that charged dozens of wealthy parents, including Ms Loughlin and her husband, with bribing coaches and administrators to get their children into elite schools.

Since getting into college, Ms Giannulli has parlayed her admission into a new, lucrative social-media persona.

She posed in her fully furnished dorm room in an ad for Amazon Prime, captioning the photo, “I got everything I needed fromAmazon with @primestudent and had it shipped to me in just two-days.” She hawked a teeth-straightening service “for back-to-school season” and posted an ad about Tresemmé-brand hairspray, promoting “micro mist level 2.”

While most students on her campus were posting about #USC, Ms Giannulli was being paid to post about #SC — for Sephora Collection, the makeup company she promoted in at least six Instagram posts during her freshman year. A 12-minute tutorial outlining Ms Giannulli’s “everyday makeup routine” has been watched more than 1.4 million times on YouTube.

Ms Giannulli grew up in privileged Los Angeles circles, but prosecutors say her parents went the extra mile in getting her into a top university.

A publicist for Ms Loughlin declined to comment, and a representative from Ms Giannulli’s talent agency didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. A USC spokesman said the university has fired two employees named in the charges and “will continue to co-operate fully with the government’s investigation.”

Olivia Jade Giannulli daughter of actress Lori Loughlin. Picture: Instagram

Ms Loughlin, a star of the 1990s hit Full House, and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid a total of $US500,000 ($710,000) to have Ms Giannulli and her older sister designated as recruits on the USC crew team — despite the fact that neither competed in the sport — after it became clear they likely wouldn’t be admitted on grades alone.

Ms Giannulli’s parents had her pose with a rowing machine for a photo that was presented to USC officials to falsely claim she was a crew recruit, the complaint alleges.

Ms Loughlin was not the only celebrity named in the complaint; Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman was also charged.

Olivia Jade Giannulli. Picture: Instagram

Representatives for Amazon.com Inc; Tresemmé, a Unilever PLC brand; and Sephora didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Ms Loughlin, who has enjoyed a resurgence of fame thanks to the Netflix Inc. reboot Fuller House, is a frequent presence in her daughter’s social-media output.
The mother and daughter appeared in Instagram photos in matching shoes and Ms Loughlin had cameos in videos where Ms. Giannulli taught her teen slang like “cancelled,” meaning dismissed or rejected.

Ms Giannulli amassed 1.3 million followers on Instagram and two million subscribers on YouTube, followings big enough to draw blue-chip advertisers and likely enough to net her hundreds of thousands of dollars in product-placement fees a year.

The teenager isn’t named in the complaint, which includes transcripts of both her parents allegedly talking with a co-operating witness about hiding the bribes from the Internal Revenue Service and Ms Giannulli’s suspicious high-school guidance counsellor.

When Ms Giannulli’s letter of conditional acceptance to USC was forwarded to her parents, Ms. Loughlin wrote back, “This is wonderful news!” and added a high-five emoji.

The charges aren’t the first time Ms Giannulli has made negative headlines. She was criticised for being a poor role model after posting a YouTube video in August in which she said she was excited to start college so she could attend college football games and campus parties.

“I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know,” she said.

Wall Street Journal