Lori Loughlin Won’t Find Prison Life Easy, Will Be ‘Traumatized’ After Experience

She hasn’t even been to trial or convicted for her alleged role in the college admissions scandal, but if Lori Loughlin is found guilty and sent to prison later this year or in 2021, one expert has warned that the experience will be traumatic for the former “Fuller House” star.

In an interview with Deseret News, brand and reputation management expert Eric Schiffer revealed that he fully expects the actress, who faces charges of money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services fraud and conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery, to be found guilty when she heads to trial, and as a result, she will face jail time—something that will be harsher than she expects.

“She’s not gonna get off light. She’s gonna be doing hard time,” Schiffer said, noting that she will come out “aged on a significant level and traumatized” when she’s done.

As for why he feels she will get a hard sentence that makes her complete a more significant stint behind bars than Felicity Huffman, who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and served 11 days of a 14 days sentence, because she has not only refused to plead guilty for her alleged crimes, but because of the image she has presented thus far during court appearances, including acting like she was “on a red carpet” when she faced reporters.

A similar critique was made of the former “When Calls the Heart” actress by Hollywood crisis manager Howard Bragman in 2019, who also stated that her behavior was not going to help matters if she went in front of a judge and jury.

“[Loughlin] is a different matter because here we are, the same time frame later, and Lori has not resolved her case,” he said at the time. “Lori played it badly, went to court with, you know, a Mercedes van full of attorneys, looking like she had a stylist dresser was smiling and waving. It just didn’t feel appropriate and didn’t feel like that’s how it should have gone down. It’s going to make it that much harder for people to get a measure sympathy for her.”

Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, who is also a defendant in the case, stand accused of paying $500,000 to William “Rick” Singer in order to get their daughters, Isabella Rose and Olivia Jade, into the University of Southern California as crew recruits, even though neither girl ever participated in the sport. As they prepare for their eventual trial, the pair have retained their innocence and even worked to produce documents that suggested they genuinely believed their first payment was, in fact, a donation to USC.

If convicted, the pair could face up to 40 years in prison for their crimes, though the longest sentence handed down thus far, to Toby MacFarlane, was six months.