Lori Loughlin Files More Rick Singer Notes Showing FBI Told Him to Lie About Bribery
College Admissions Scandal Rick Singer Says FBI Told Him to Lie about Bribery ... And When he Wouldn't He Got Yelled At
UPDATE
5:23 PM PT -- Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli just filed their own motion regarding the exculpatory evidence prosecutors finally produced ... and their docs include even more notes from Singer.
UPDATE
After Singer described the "loud and abrasive" call he added, "Essentially they (FBI agents) are asking me to bend the truth which is what they asked me not to do when working with the agents and Eric Rosen (Asst. U.S. Attorney)."
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Singer also noted that someone named Liz, presumably a federal agent, "raised her voice to me like she did in the hotel room about agreeing with her that everyone bribed the schools. This time about asking each person to agree to a lie I was telling them."
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According to the motion, filed by Lori and Mossimo's attorney Sean Berkowitz, Singer also noted the "Government's desire to 'nail' one of the defendants 'at all costs.'" The defendant they referred to was not Lori or Mossimo.
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The docs, obtained by TMZ, also say Singer's notes demonstrate that "those agents attempted to bully him into lying and saying something different" from what he told clients prior to the FBI beginning its wiretapping.
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As Berkowitz says in the docs, Singer's notes are "devastating to the Government's case and demonstrate[] that the Government has been improperly withholding core exculpatory information, employing a 'win at all costs' effort rather than following their obligation to do justice."
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For now, Lori and Mossimo are requesting a postponement of setting a trial date, which was scheduled to happen Thursday in a Boston federal court -- but their motion also informs the court they're considering filing motions to dismiss and motions for sanctions against prosecutors for withholding this evidence.
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They also point out prosecutors' lengthy delay in handing over Singer's notes has already screwed over defendants who took plea deals "without the benefit of this evidence."
The FBI told the ringleader in the college admissions scandal to lie and say his clients knew he was bribing college officials, and when he wouldn't play ball they yelled at him ... this according to Rick Singer himself.
It's a stunning, possible game-changing development in the case. One of the parents who's being prosecuted -- Elisabeth Kimmel -- filed legal docs Wednesday claiming the government just belatedly produced notes from Singer's iPhone.
Singer writes, "Loud and abrasive call with agents. They continue to ask me to tell a fib and not restate what I told my clients as to where there [sic] money was going -- to the program, not the coach and that it was a donation and they want it to be a payment."
In other words, Singer says he told his clients the money they were paying was a donation to the school, not a bribe to a coach.
Singer's notes have implications that go far beyond Elisabeth Kimmel. Fact is ... Lori Loughlin and other parents will benefit from the new revelation because it goes to the heart of the government's case -- namely, where the parents thought the money was going. If they thought it was going to the school, prosecutors may have had the rug pulled out from under them.
As we reported, Lori and other defendants have complained prosecutors have been withholding key evidence that tends to show the parents did not commit a crime. This new piece of evidence may be the smoking gun ... made all the more powerful by the fact the government didn't disclose it in a timely fashion ... not even close.
Originally published -- 2:35 PM PT
