This week four years ago, a story hit the tabloids that was so juicy, so vibrant, that even the haters of pop culture news had to take a peek.

This, of course, is the story of once beloved Lori Laughlin, who went from being America’s sweetheart to being the face of privilege due to the controversy.

Still don’t know what I’m talking about? Let me fill you in.

Unless you have been living under a rock, this is a story you most likely have heard about. Reports of Lori Laughlin being arrested alongside 50+ other parents began to surface online, with many different accounts of what was going on.

The truth of the matter was spilled into the media once federal prosecutors did a press conference to explain what was happening.

So it turns out, Lori was caught alongside other wealthy couples committing crimes. What crimes you may ask? Oh just a simple case of MAIL AND WIRE FRAUD!

So, what happened?

Well what happened was Lori decided to take her child’s educational path into her own hands. Instead of taking the path that normal families take, with children applying to schools and seeing where they can get in and what will fit within their budget.

No, Lori decided that her and her family were too good to take this path. They felt that their children deserved to get into a school they did not work to get into. They decided that they deserve to go here simply because they have money and notoriety, which let them feel they could bend the rules and do whatever they wanted.

Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, bribed officials at USC through a scam program that led the schools to think they were accepting student athletes. In reality, the students accepted into the program were not athletes at all, but instead were children of rich people who decided to buy their way into the college of their choice.

How did they do this you might add?

The families went as far as faking pictures of them participating in sports and sending it to the schools, to give the illusion that these students are sports prodigies.

This was all uncovered in an operation, promptly called “Varisty Blues” by federal prosecutors.

The families involved were all charged with various crimes, including many charges of mail and wire fraud, which carries steep jail time if convicted.

The publicity that came specifically from Lori Laughlin is not only since she was wealthy and famous, which definitely influenced the attention that this story got. The attention came mostly from the contrast of this to how Lori Laughlin presented herself. She was known as a wholesome actress who participated in wholesome entertainment, including a major role on Full House, which cemented her as a household name.

She then went onto make films with the Hallmark channel, which furthered her image of this wholesome actress who is just so loveable to the masses.

When this story hit, it was even more impactful due to everybody being shocked about specifically her being involved. This case has impacted her image in the press, and she has been reported on in not so favorable ways.

Scrutiny of Olivia Jade, her daughter, was also swift as she was already an influencer prior to this scandal. This meant that the words she posted in her videos was scrutinized in the media. This includes videos where she brags about not caring about school and only being in college to party. There were also videos uncovered that showed Olivia complaining that her parents forced her to go to college and that she wanted to be an influencer instead of attending classes. This showed the public that she really did not care about the education and the parents were set on manipulating the system to get their daughter into a college the found to be acceptable in their view.

Olivia found out about the scandal while partying with friends from USC on a yacht owned by the chair of admissions of the school. Interesting…

The couple pleaded guilty to charges of wire and mail fraud. Lori was sentenced to two months in prison and her husband was sentenced to 5 months. Both have completed their prison sentences and have fallen out of the spotlight in recent years.

This case brought renewed criticism of legacy admissions, scams within the admission process as well as more transparency to how schools accept students. This also impacted the reputations of all the schools involved, most notably USC and UCLA.

Not only did the couple get charged in this case, but the drama was far from over. After this media attention, the degree credibility of these schools went down. This led to many students feeling upset that these people impacted the integrity of their degree with this scandal.

This led to a group of students coming together and filing a class action lawsuit against the parents in this case, including Lori and Mossimo. This further adds to the legal trouble that the couple is facing as they try to navigate this new reputation. The suit is calling for financial help as the students feel cheated out of a degree they paid for after the reputation of the schools was dragged in the mud.

The couple’s children also spoke out, saying that the parents were the leaders in this charge, and they did not encourage this behavior. This was seen as the children throwing the parents under the bus. They also spoke about the strained relationship they had with their parents after this fall out and the inevitable building back up of relationship between parent and child.

Oh Lori!