April 24 (UPI) — A former University of Southern California coach agreed Tuesday to plead guilty to playing a role in Lori Loughlin’s alleged college admissions scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged in a criminal complaint that Laura Janke, 36, of North Hollywood, Calif., a former assistant USC coach of women’s soccer, was contacted in July of 2017 by alleged scheme mastermind — William “Rick” Singer — to prepare a false crew profile for Loughlin’s daughter.
Janke also allegedly emailed Singer other false athletic recruit profiles to get children of other wealthy parents into USC.
The actress and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, paid $500,000 to get their daughters into USC as fake rowing team recruits when they had no competitive rowing experience.
A fake profile showed Olivia Jade, Loughlin and Gianulli’s younger daughter, as a crew coxswain for the L.A. Marina Club team and included an “action picture” of her daughter on a rowing machine.
Loughlin and Giannulli have pleaded not guilty.
Janke will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering in exchange for no further charges being brought against her, a court document filed Tuesday shows.
Though a judge will ultimately make the call, the agreement calls for up to 33 months in prison.
Prosecutors said Tuesday that Janke is one of two defendants who agreed to plead guilty to conspiring with Singer on charges related to bribery and other fraud to help wealthy parents’ children get into highly-selective universities.
Toby MacFarlane, a 56-year-old father and former senior executive of a title insurance company, of Del Mar, Calif., will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud.
MacFarlane similarly paid $450,000 to get his children into USC as “purported athletic recruits,” prosecutors said.
Janke was directed by Singer to create a fake basketball profile for MacFarlane’s son and used materials provided by MacFarlane and Singer to create a fake soccer profile for his daughter, according to prosecutors.
