Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli are returning fire in their college admissions bribery case, saying new "core" evidence coughed up this week shows they were scammed by bad actors.
In a furious Friday filing, the couple blasted prosecutors for "improperly" waiting until Tuesday night to hand over the key "exculpatory" evidence allegedly owed to them since May.
The "Full House" actress and her fashion designer husband _ accused of paying $500,000 to get their two daughters into the University of Southern California as rowing recruits even though they didn't participate in the sport _ even claimed the government "hid the information" to "pressure" them into pleading guilty.
They said the new information came from the FBI's interviews with admitted scam mastermind William "Rick" Singer, and now they want access to everything Singer said because prosecutors "cannot be trusted" to divulge what's due.
The "last-minute disclosures" cited by the couple include Singer's purported statement to investigators that "families that do the side door (admissions scheme) typically do not know that (disgraced USC official Donna) Heinel is involved until the time of the first payment."
The "belated" material also includes Singer telling the FBI he "did recall telling (Loughlin and Giannulli) that the first $50,000 for each girl went to USC," and that the couple "thought their payment of $50,000 went directly to USC's program," according to the filing.
When it came to the $200,000 Loughlin and Giannulli paid to Singer's Key Worldwide Foundation for each daughter, Singer told the FBI it was his "belief that the Giannullis knew that part of the $200,000 sent to KWF was going to a USC program," the paperwork said.
"As things now stand, the government clearly acknowledges that Giannulli and Loughlin's alleged 'bribe payments' did not go to any USC official personally, but rather were given as donations to USC itself," the defense's filing in Boston Federal Court said.
"There is no evidence defendants somehow knew these payments to USC were personal bribes designed to compensate Heinel for betraying her employer," it argued.
Prosecutors will no doubt challenge the defense claims. In a filing two weeks ago, prosecutors said they're only required to hand over "exculpatory" evidence at this point, and such evidence "simply does not exist."
Offering new details amid 500 pages of paperwork, prosecutors said the celebrity couple "specifically rejected" a chance to use the school's "legitimate" pay-to-play admissions approach when they "rebuffed" a USC development official who offered to help their oldest daughter Isabella Rose.
Instead, the couple conspired with Singer to stage photos of their daughters on rowing machines for fabricated athletic profiles with phony crew credentials, prosecutors said.
Loughlin, 55, and Giannulli, 56, have pleaded not guilty in the case.
In a separate filing this week, prosecutors proposed an October trial date for the first heat of "Varsity Blues" parents due to face jurors and said they want Loughlin and Giannulli in that group.
