Mossimo Giannulli denied request to finish prison term at home
Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli will spend the rest of his sentence behind bars after a judge in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal denied his request for compassionate release.
Earlier this month, Giannulli's attorney filed a motion for the designer to complete his sentence at home after spending 56 days in solitary quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic, which his lawyer said took a significant toll on his "mental, physical and emotional well-being."
"The conditions under which Mr. Giannulli has been incarcerated are far more extreme than what the Court recommended," Giannulli's attorney wrote in a bid to modify the prison sentence. "Giannulli was immediately placed in solitary confinement in a small cell at the adjacent medium security penitentiary, 24 hours per day with only three short 20 minute breaks per week."
Giannulli's attorney said he remained in solitary quarantine despite testing negative for COVID-19 at least ten times.
But on Tuesday, a federal judge issued an order denying the request and pointed out that Giannulli's extended period in quarantine was necessary due to his contact with other inmates who tested positive for COVID-19 and his own complaints of symptoms consistent with the virus.
A source close to the family refuted that argument, telling ABC News that Giannulli "never had any symptoms of the disease" while in confinement. The source added that Giannulli had no access to a television, computer, the commissary or the outdoors for fresh air or sun for almost two months. They also said he had no access to a telephone for three weeks and was unable to speak with his family.
Still, the judge found, "Such conditions, without more, do not constitute 'extraordinary and compelling circumstances.'"
Giannulli began serving his five-month prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Lompoc, in Southern California on Nov. 19 after he and his wife, actress Lori Loughlin, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges tied to the college admissions scandal, when they were accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as crew recruits. However, neither Isabella Rose Giannulli, 22, nor Olivia Jade Giannulli, 21, had ever rowed competitively.
Loughlin began her prison sentence in October at the Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, and was released in December after two months. Neither of their daughters was criminally charged.
Last week, their daughter, Olivia Jade, who is a beauty influencer, returned to YouTube to chronicle a day in her life. Before the video began, she addressed her recent appearance on "Red Table Talk," where she apologized for her family's involvement in the college admissions scandal.
"What I was trying to get across was I felt like the thing I wanted to do the most was apologize for so long, and I felt like I got to do that at Red Table," she said in the video. "Although I can't change the past, I can change how I act and what I do going forward. ... I don't want to keep rehashing things. I just want to move on and do better and move forward and come back and do what I love, which is YouTube."
Giannulli is expected to be released from prison on April 17.
