A judge presiding over the college admissions scam says the University of Southern California may be giving preferential treatment to students with influential parents, according to a report.
Prosecutors have strongly denied this but the university has been ordered to turn over unredacted documents linked to the scam as the judge believes certain information has been censored.
This comes after she saw unredacted USC emails that "directly contradict" prosecutors claim that the school does not favor admissions to "side-door" applicants, which are students of the rich and famous, according to TMZ.
The court initially allowed for USC to black out names of school officials and applicants but that information is now considered critical in the case.
The court order may be good news for Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Giannulli, whose attorneys argued that the USC does in fact give preference to these so-called "side-door" applicants.
Loughlin and her husband stand accused for paying $500,000 to get their two daughters admitted into the University of Southern California through bribery as purported crew recruits.
They are among dozens of others charged with participating in the scheme, which prosecutors claim they did with the help of William "Rick" Singer, a California college admissions consultant who has pleaded guilty to helping bribe university sports coaches to present clients' children as fake athletic recruits.
The couple have pleaded not guilty and maintain they were not aware that the money they had given Singer went to personal bribes. Earlier this year their attorney accused prosecutors of withholding evidence that could help prove their innocence, Fox Newsreported.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.