Mass College Admission Cheating Scandal

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

On 4/9/2019 at 11:35 PM, Lhorn said:

I may or may not have rebroadcast an Astros game without the expressed written consent of MLB and the commissioner 

Fuck Bud Selig Rob Manfred.

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2732]

Somewhere Martha is smiling.

[Kyle 207]

16 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

16 hours ago, HouTex said:

Even 4 years for something like this is, IMO, ridiculous.  

I tend to agree.

Third. Don't get me wrong, I realize this is not how the system works, but she's already been severely punished by the market. Prison seems excessive for a victimless crime, especially in light of Jessie Smollet's privilege. He's going to win and Emmy and and Oscar.

[Huckleberry 32862]

To be clear, my opinion is nothing like yours. I think 4 years is excessive for this crime based only on this case's merits, not because it reminds me of something that I think some black guy in Chicago got away with.

[huge 3793]

5 hours ago, Kyle said:

Third. Don't get me wrong, I realize this is not how the system works, but she's already been severely punished by the market. Prison seems excessive for a victimless crime, especially in light of Jessie Smollet's privilege. He's going to win and Emmy and and Oscar.

One thing has zero to do with the other, unless you are beholden to only see things through your team's lens.  That seems exceedingly tedious and tiresome.

 

[phdhorn 6224]

I hope she gets a year at least.  

[Beau Vine 54231]

Lori Loughlin is reportedly 'freaking out' about jail prospect

In today's college admissions scandal news ... People reports former "Fuller House" star Lori Loughlin is starting to realize she's probably going to jail and she's less than pleased by that prospect. "Lori is finally realizing just how serious this is," an insider says of the conspiracy to commit mail fraud, honest services fraud and money laundering charges she and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli face for allegedly paying out bribes to get their daughters into U.S.C. "She is seeing the light that she will do jail time," the source adds, "and is freaking out." It seems Lori and Mossimo hadn't considered the possibility they could end up behind bars when they rejected their first plea deal offer. Lori also perhaps didn't consider that it looked a bit off for her to sign autographs outside the courtroom, which she did this week. "She was obviously extremely nervous and the actress side of Lori came out," said E!'s source. "She doesn't know how else to be in public. Her natural reaction was to just smile and try to be lighthearted. She's always been so well loved and charming, that's the part she knows how to play in public." Like a dozen other parents implicated in the scandal, Lori's actress peer, Felicity Huffman, took full responsibility for her crimes and agreed to a plea deal. Lori and Mossimo could reportedly face between 2 and 20 years behind bars. According to Page Six, the couple is now "engaged in strategy talks" with crisis manager Hunter Frederick, who has previous worked with stars like Lindsay Lohan and Gwyneth Paltrow when they were facing nasty image problems.

[Pato del Muerto 52503]

What did gwyneth Paltrow do?

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Yes she knows how to turn on a persona for the public....  She's an aaaact-tor !!!  

[Beau Vine 54231]

More hard-hitting news for you guys:

Quote

While many people were shocked to learn of Lori Loughlin’s alleged involvement in a nationwide college admissions scandal, her daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli’s pals had a different reaction.

 

“Olivia’s friends weren’t surprised when the scandal broke,” a source tells Us Weekly exclusively. “They kind of went, ‘Oh, that makes sense.’ It’s no secret she was never very passionate about school and didn’t always put in the effort, so this wasn’t that much of a shock.”

 

Giannulli, 19, has been laying low and leaning on her friends and her boyfriend, Jackson Guthy, since news of the scandal broke. A second insider told Us on Wednesday, April 10, that the YouTube star was recently spotted partying with her BFFs in Los Angeles, just days before her parents rejected a plea deal that included a minimum two-year prison sentence.

The beauty guru has been open about her distaste for school in the past. Giannulli admitted in a February 2018 YouTube video that she hated high school “in general.” Six months later, the influencer confessed she did not plan on attending many of her classes at the University of Southern California because of her busy work schedule.

“I do want the experience of, like, game days [and] partying,” she said. “I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.” She later apologized for coming across as “ungrateful.”

 

[woohorn 1131]

What did gwyneth Paltrow do?

Didn't Goop push (heh) crystals to shove in cooches?

[mulletpelini 5211]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

More hard-hitting news for you guys:

 

unappreciative and ungrateful.  Can't even imagine how she ever got that way.

[TwiceHorn 31486]

On 4/10/2019 at 9:05 PM, Eastwood said:

Eh, it's more of an incentive to save the state time, money, and effort for copping to the crimes that are the easiest for the state to put together. Accept and the state is happy that they were able to uphold the law and the perp gets to walk away with less on their rap sheet. Deny, and the state now has incentive to dig deeper and piece together even more charges for crimes that there is evidence of. The additional charges may not be as solid as the plea deal charges, but that's for a court of law to decide. It's also important to remember that this isn't a winner take all thing. She could still be found guilty of the original plea deal charges after many, many more thousands, if not millions of dollars in legal fees and be found not guilty of the additional charges.

It isn't as much of a "admit you are guilty or we will charge you with more" as it is a "make this cheaper and less time consuming for us by admitting the more obviously guilty crimes and we won't ring you up for everything that there is evidence of, thereby making it cheaper and less time consuming for you." It is mutually beneficial in most cases.

Sometimes it is.  However, the current federal charging practice is to charge a defendant with the most serious crime the evidence will support.  It is then almost impossible for mortals to secure a plea to anything but that highest crime. https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/965896/download

This is a departure from that.  So is most of the Mueller stuff, as far as we can tell.

The real quid pro quo in much plea bargaining is avoiding the "trial penalty" wherein the prosecution and the judge stiffen penalties because the defendant insisted on their right to trial.  https://www.nacdl.org/trialpenaltyreport/

So, by being offered the chance to plea to lesser offenses before an indictment, the pleading defendants have already been given something not given to the typical poor defendant.

Edited April 12, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Kyle 207]

22 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

To be clear, my opinion is nothing like yours. I think 4 years is excessive for this crime based only on this case's merits, not because it reminds me of something that I think some black guy in Chicago got away with.

To be clear, I cannot keep up with the every changing list of shit I am supposed to be outraged by. Last time I checked the talking points, we were supposed to get angry about disparities in the justice system and how different types of crime led to markedly different punishments. In my defense, it's not like we live in world where for the past two years many have been flinging shit from a fake news inspired conspiracy and those who demanded we all accept the facts did a 180 the second the facts didn't fit the fake news. 

[huge 3793]

see?  that's tiring just to read

[Armybrat 40850]

[he’s right you know gif]

[Rimbo 25941]

omg, it just keeps getting worse for her:

Judge Sentences Lori Loughlin To 100 Hours Of Community Theater

Spoiler

LOS ANGELES—In the hopes that the experience provides a valuable lesson about adherence to the law, Judge Steve Kim responded to Lori Loughlin’s money laundering, bribery, and racketeering charges Friday by sentencing the former Full House actress to 100 hours of community theatre. “As punishment for the dishonesty, flippancy, and disregard for the law Ms. Loughlin has displayed, I’ve sentenced her to perform in a minimum of 12 different community theatre productions around the greater Los Angeles area,” said Judge Kim, who expressed his intention of sending a message to all those who believe themselves to be above the law through the actress’s mandatory court-ordered participation in small-scale productions of The Pajama Game, Oklahoma, Little Shop of Horrors, and an upcoming modern retelling of The Crucible. “Loughlin will be required to run lines with a designated sponsor to ensure she’s completely off-book for each production, and learn all necessary choreography and blocking. She will even be required to work as a grip when needed. Everyone should know what it’s like to work for weeks on a play that goes up for an audience of nine people—if Ms. Loughlin had known what was at stake, perhaps she would have thought twice about her crimes.” At press time, the judge had added an extra punishment to the sentence requiring Loughlin to also appear at the poorly attended basement cast parties following the conclusion of each production.

 

[Laxtonto 12080]

3 hours ago, Rimbo said:

omg, it just keeps getting worse for her:

Judge Sentences Lori Loughlin To 100 Hours Of Community Theater

  Hide contents

LOS ANGELES—In the hopes that the experience provides a valuable lesson about adherence to the law, Judge Steve Kim responded to Lori Loughlin’s money laundering, bribery, and racketeering charges Friday by sentencing the former Full House actress to 100 hours of community theatre. “As punishment for the dishonesty, flippancy, and disregard for the law Ms. Loughlin has displayed, I’ve sentenced her to perform in a minimum of 12 different community theatre productions around the greater Los Angeles area,” said Judge Kim, who expressed his intention of sending a message to all those who believe themselves to be above the law through the actress’s mandatory court-ordered participation in small-scale productions of The Pajama Game, Oklahoma, Little Shop of Horrors, and an upcoming modern retelling of The Crucible. “Loughlin will be required to run lines with a designated sponsor to ensure she’s completely off-book for each production, and learn all necessary choreography and blocking. She will even be required to work as a grip when needed. Everyone should know what it’s like to work for weeks on a play that goes up for an audience of nine people—if Ms. Loughlin had known what was at stake, perhaps she would have thought twice about her crimes.” At press time, the judge had added an extra punishment to the sentence requiring Loughlin to also appear at the poorly attended basement cast parties following the conclusion of each production.

 

Got to love the Onion... 

For some reason I think this was what the people expected as far as punishment for this and for done reason never considered what federal sentencing guidelines are or how radically different an arena federal vs state court really is.

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Just now, Laxtonto said:

Got to love the Onion... 

For some reason I think this was what the people expected as far as punishment for this and for done reason never considered what federal sentencing guidelines are or how radically different an arena federal vs state court really is.

The feds have no sense of humor, and do not fuck around. Have a long time family friend who was a federal prosecutor. He brought some serious shit down on some people for some pretty serous criminal activity. He's also one of the few lawyers I know who's out right beaten a federal case as a private practice litigator.

[Asithappens 974]

On 4/10/2019 at 4:40 PM, HouTex said:

Even 4 years for something like this is, IMO, ridiculous.  

Bullshit.

Wire/mail fraud, whatever it's called. Probably some kind of tax fraud, as well.

Plus, she had a "gift" from the prosecutor to accept the original deal and get a lesser sentence. 

If you are serious about getting ridiculous, then why not start with the whole crack vs. powder cocaine discrepancies. 

 

4 years is not ridiculous. 

[Armybrat 40850]

1 hour ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

The feds have no sense of humor, and do not fuck around. Have a long time family friend who was a federal prosecutor. He brought some serious shit down on some people for some pretty serous criminal activity. He's also one of the few lawyers I know who's out right beaten a federal case as a private practice litigator.

35 years ago a  40-something teacher at my school had to testify at her brother’s federal grand jury inquest (some kind of drug smuggling deal). Apparently she told a fib under oath and was caught in her perjury. She essentially disappeared into a federal prison, lost her teaching license, and her future. Too bad, as she was the shyest, nicest, and most unassuming person on the faculty.

Students  were shocked as well as all of her colleagues.

 

[Updawg 2266]

War on drugs was just heating up then

[TwiceHorn 31486]

2 hours ago, Asithappens said:

Bullshit.

Wire/mail fraud, whatever it's called. Probably some kind of tax fraud, as well.

Plus, she had a "gift" from the prosecutor to accept the original deal and get a lesser sentence. 

If you are serious about getting ridiculous, then why not start with the whole crack vs. powder cocaine discrepancies. 

 

4 years is not ridiculous. 

It's only not ridiculous because of ridiculousness like the crack disparity, which has finally been abolished and made retroactive, just this year.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

35 years ago a  40-something teacher at my school had to testify at her brother’s federal grand jury inquest (some kind of drug smuggling deal). Apparently she told a fib under oath and was caught in her perjury. She essentially disappeared into a federal prison, lost her teaching license, and her future. Too bad, as she was the shyest, nicest, and most unassuming person on the faculty.
Students  were shocked as well as all of her colleagues.
 

She obviously wasn’t a LEO

[jimmyjazz 45960]

2 hours ago, Asithappens said:

Bullshit.

Wire/mail fraud, whatever it's called. Probably some kind of tax fraud, as well.

Plus, she had a "gift" from the prosecutor to accept the original deal and get a lesser sentence. 

If you are serious about getting ridiculous, then why not start with the whole crack vs. powder cocaine discrepancies. 

 

4 years is not ridiculous. 

I can think they're both ridiculous and feel justified.  While I realize ignorance of the law is generally not a good defense, I also think the average person probably just doesn't realize how her bribe could extend to wire, mail or tax fraud.  In my mind, intent should carry heavier sentences than a lack of intent.  I'm also not a big fan of setting examples.

[Asithappens 974]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

35 years ago a  40-something teacher at my school had to testify at her brother’s federal grand jury inquest (some kind of drug smuggling deal). Apparently she told a fib under oath and was caught in her perjury. She essentially disappeared into a federal prison, lost her teaching license, and her future. Too bad, as she was the shyest, nicest, and most unassuming person on the faculty.

Students  were shocked as well as all of her colleagues.

 

I've seen quite a few episodes of Law & Order, but correct me if I'm wrong: doesn't one take an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"?

A fib is what you call it? 

Not if it's perjury.

[PilotsError 2287]

You a prosecutor, you stupid fuck?

[Armybrat 40850]

10 hours ago, Asithappens said:

I've seen quite a few episodes of Law & Order, but correct me if I'm wrong: doesn't one take an oath to "tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"?

A fib is what you call it? 

Not if it's perjury.

Perhaps you missed the part where I said “caught in her perjury”?

Of course that does not apply to the political leadership of either “side”. /CR

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

9 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Perhaps you missed the part where I said “caught in her perjury”?

Of course that does not apply to the political leadership of either “side”. /CR

Many would be languishing on federal prison tennis courts now after having a spinach and crab  omlette.

[Machinator 32099]

 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

Just now, Machinator said:

 

IMG Academy, too big to fail.

[Asithappens 974]

2 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Perhaps you missed the part where I said “caught in her perjury”?

Of course that does not apply to the political leadership of either “side”. /CR

Then why call it a fib?

[Armybrat 40850]

Because none of us know how egregious her “untruth” was. Of course the feds don’t care what the degree of the falsehood was, she did not tell the truth and was legally culpable. If you want to continue being offended at my use of the word “fib”, then by all means continue. I don’t care.

But one thing is certain, the little people get the sledge hammer for such misdeeds, while many of the privileged political class get to skate without being punished.

[freyguy 4273]

3 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Because none of us know how egregious her “untruth” was. Of course the feds don’t care what the degree of the falsehood was, she did not tell the truth and was legally culpable. If you want to continue being offended at my use of the word “fib”, then by all means continue. I don’t care.

But one thing is certain, the little people get the sledge hammer for such misdeeds, while many of the privileged political class get to skate without being punished.

[jimmyjazz 45960]

So, Aunt Becky is doubling down and has pleaded "not guilty".  Did her attorney actually pass the bar?

Come on Lori

[CHEF DIESEL 126]

4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

So, Aunt Becky is doubling down and has pleaded "not guilty".  Did her attorney actually pass the bar?

Come on Lori

93-95% conviction rate for federal prosecutors for the last several years 2012-2017. Should have taken a deal.

I was ambivalent about them at first, but this level of arrogance, contempt and entitlement really needs to be punished with prison time.

Here's some free advice to these two painfully stupid mooks: Fire your lawyers and plead guilty.

[smuggs 9353]

27 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

So, Aunt Becky is doubling down and has pleaded "not guilty".  Did her attorney actually pass the bar?

Come on Lori

 

The husband is worth ~80 million. He's obviously the one driving this boat. She either turns on him and takes a deal for herself or goes along with whatever he wants to do, right? 

Can you feel the tension in the air? 

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[bigup2dahorns 3343]

[Texas_Rocks 346]

So, Aunt Becky is doubling down and has pleaded "not guilty".  Did her attorney actually pass the bar?
Come on Lori

There is no way in hell that this could have happened at a better time than now. It’s going to cost them a lot of money, but they’ll be just fine in the end imo. I could maybe see a mistrial at worst though. The modern world right now is crazier than it’s ever been.

[AUS-97HORN 11765]

On 4/11/2019 at 9:09 AM, Kyle said:

Third. Don't get me wrong, I realize this is not how the system works, but she's already been severely punished by the market. Prison seems excessive for a victimless crime, especially in light of Jessie Smollet's privilege. He's going to win and Emmy and and Oscar.

your version of victimless and mine and 2 entirely different things

Her kids took spots that were scholarship spots.  Yes they didnt take advantage of the scholarship itself, but the point is, they took a spot that maybe a middle class girl (whose parents make $120k a year which is too much to qualify for financial aid, so they would have to take out loans to be accepted could have gotten into USC), and instead that girl had to go to another school without the same prestige, or maybe they didnt get a scholarship at all.

There are absolutely 2 women in the world who wanted to go to USC that rowed, or had the athletic prowess to row, and were not accepted into USC.   thats 2 victims.

and dont get me started on our own fucking issue with Men's Tennis, where they only have something like FOUR scholarships per year available.  

Center gave away 2 scholarship spots in a sport that only 4 spots are given. and even if the scholarships were "recovered" by Center, and split up among the rest of the Men's tennis team, that still means there 2 men who might have wanted to go to UT, even if it was just a partial scholarship, who didnt get to go because these other 2 guys took their spot.    thats 2 more victims.

 

and there are 48 other documented instances in this scandal for sure.     There are victims in this crime, and thats why most of us dont mind the prosecutor going hard ass on these hyper-privledged people who really dont think the rules apply to them.  There were news articles stating that Aunt Becky refused to believe that what she did was even illegal. 

She literally bribed a coach to get her kid into college, and she bribed someone to take her kids ACT test for them.    And we all agree Bribery is a crime, yet she didnt think that giving a bribe was criminal?  Fuck her.

 

and with that wall of words, I agree with your premise that going for the jugular is nuts, but shes gonna get a 4 year sentence where she serves 2 years unless she somehow is one of the 3% of folks who dont get convicted when tried in the Federal system.

[TwiceHorn 31486]

1 hour ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

93-95% conviction rate for federal prosecutors for the last several years 2012-2017. Should have taken a deal.

I was ambivalent about them at first, but this level of arrogance, contempt and entitlement really needs to be punished with prison time.

Here's some free advice to these two painfully stupid mooks: Fire your lawyers and plead guilty.

That's only including pleas.  Actual trials are more in the neighborhood of 75% and down to about 65% for bench trials.  Criminal juries are dumb.

I have seen several things come across my news feed indicating that Aunt Becky is in considerable denial that her actions were criminal at all, or punishable by incarceration.

Edited April 15, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

38 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

That's only including pleas.  Actual trials are more in the neighborhood of 75% and down to about 65% for bench trials.  Criminal juries are dumb.

I have seen several things come across my news feed indicating that Aunt Becky is in considerable denial that her actions were criminal at all, or punishable by incarceration.

Aunt Becky really needs a good spanking.

[Lhorn 4914]

2 hours ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Aunt Becky really needs a good spanking.

I volunteer to hand out her much needed discipline 

[Lhorn 4914]

4 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

So, Aunt Becky is doubling down and has pleaded "not guilty".  Did her attorney actually pass the bar?

Come on Lori

Don’t they always plea not guilty - no matter how guilty or how good the case against them?  Seems like it least 

[CDAK 216]

4 hours ago, CHEF DIESEL said:

93-95% conviction rate for federal prosecutors for the last several years 2012-2017. Should have taken a deal.

I was ambivalent about them at first, but this level of arrogance, contempt and entitlement really needs to be punished with prison time.

Here's some free advice to these two painfully stupid mooks: Fire your lawyers and plead guilty. 

It's arrogant and entitled to exercise your due process rights including a jury trial?  The guilty have due process rights.  They aren't entitled or arrogant if they exercise those rights rather than pleading guilty.

[Brisketexan 105151]

1 minute ago, CDAK said:

It's arrogant and entitled to exercise your due process rights including a jury trial?  The guilty have due process rights.  They aren't entitled or arrogant if they exercise those rights rather than pleading guilty.

If they're exercising them because they think "I could NEVER be convicted".....then yeah, it's not just arrogance and entitlement, it's arrogance and entitlement so grand that it overrides reason and logic.  Which is a thing that actually happens.

[Lhorn 4914]

I heard Mike Sorrentino (the Sitch) was doing fine in prison. Pretty cushy place. Sees his hot ass wife weekly. In a setting like that I’d take a plea that included prison time - not sure about 4 years though. 

[CDAK 216]

1 minute ago, Brisketexan said:

If they're exercising them because they think "I could NEVER be convicted".....then yeah, it's not just arrogance and entitlement, it's arrogance and entitlement so grand that it overrides reason and logic.  Which is a thing that actually happens.

I'm sure I'll disagree but I don't know what distinction you're trying to draw.  What are the acceptable motivations for exercising your due process rights?  And are there any other unacceptable motivations for exercising due process rights?

[Brisketexan 105151]

3 minutes ago, CDAK said:

I'm sure I'll disagree but I don't know what distinction you're trying to draw.  What are the acceptable motivations for exercising your due process rights?  And are there any other unacceptable motivations for exercising due process rights?

We all have rights.  We have a right to tell a cop "why don't you fuckin' make me?"  Just because you have a right doesn't mean that exercising it is wise.

Lots of very, very smart and experienced criminal defense attorneys advise their clients "look, I know you have a right to a trial, and to make the government put on their evidence....but I've SEEN their evidence.  If you do that, you'll be convicted, and go away for 20 years.  My advice is that you waive your right to trial, and take the 2 year deal they are offering."

Having a right is one thing.

Exercising/not exercising it intelligently is another.