Olivia Jade Enduring Online Bullying After Her Mother Was Indicted For Payoffs to Get Her Into College

Following reports that actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are among 40 people who have been charged in a $25 million college entrance exam cheating scheme, people have started harassing Lori’s daughter Olivia Jade on social media.

NBC News reports on Tuesday, March 12, that according to the indictment, which was opened in Boston, the scheme involved aiding prospective students with cheating on their college exams. The indictment also alleges that others were admitted to top-tier universities as recruited athletes, regardless of their athletic abilities. NBC News reports that schools involved in the indictment include Georgetown University, Stanford University, University of Southern California, University of Texas, UCLA, the University of San Diego, Yale, and more.

Additionally, Good Morning America reports that documents show that Lori and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, Olivia Jade’s father, allegedly “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC.”

In most cases, the outlet also notes, officials said the students were unaware that their acceptance to these universities depended on these bribes. It’s uncertain whether Olivia and Lori’s other daughter, Isabella Rose, were among the individuals who did not know about the alleged bribes.

Olivia Jade is currently a student at USC, after starting her freshman year in the fall of 2018 as a communications major. Her YouTube channel has nearly 2 million subscribers and she has more than 1.3 million followers on Instagram.

Soon after news of the indictment broke, people swarmed Olivia Jade’s Instagram comments and accused her of being a cheater. Comments such as “u cheated to get into college?!” and “how’s it feel to be a cheater?” have flooded her posts.
Again, it is undetermined if Olivia Jade knew about the alleged scheme. It’s not OK to fill her social media accounts with this sort of negativity, especially considering that nobody has been found guilty yet. Hopefully, as the news develops, we’ll have more clarity on what exactly transpired.

Following the allegations regarding a cheating scheme involving several actors including Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman, USC has released a statement.

"We are aware of the ongoing wide-ranging criminal investigation involving universities nationwide, including USC. USC has not been accused of any wrongdoing and will continue to cooperate fully with the government’s investigation. We understand that the government believes that illegal activity was carried out by individuals who went to great lengths to conceal their actions from the university. USC is conducting an internal investigation and will take employment actions as appropriate. USC is in the process of identifying any funds received by the university in connection with this alleged scheme. Additionally, the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward."