Lori Loughlin's Defense Could Be Strengthened After Chinese Mother Claims She Was Tricked Into 'Donation'

Lori Loughlin's defense could be strengthened if a Chinese mother is to be believed.

The mother of a Chinese student has revealed she handed over $6.5million to Rick Singer, believing it to be a donation to Stanford University for scholarships and funding.

The woman, identified as Mrs. Zhao, issued a statement through her attorney, revealing that she had sought Singer's organization's advice ahead of her daughter's application to the college, as she was not familiar with the US application process.

While she does not name her daughter, she is understood to be Yusi Zhao, whose father is billionaire chairman of Shandong Buchang Pharmaceuticals, Zhao Tao.

She was referred to Singer's organization by former Morgan Stanley adviser Michael Wu, who has since been terminated from his job.

She claimed that after her daughter was accepted to Stanford, Singer asked for a donation to the university through his foundation, telling her it was "for the salaries of academic staff, scholarships, athletics programs and helping those students who otherwise will not be able to afford to attend Stanford."

"The donation is in the same nature as those that many affluent parents have been doing openly to prestigious universities," the statement read.

Mrs. Zhao said Singer's company provided "educational advisory services", but did not guarantee admission into any colleges; she said her daughter had a good academic record and had offers from several US colleges.

Indeed Yusi herself posted a video in 2017 revealing she had been accepted to Stanford "Through my own hard effort. ... I wasn't doing well academically when I was in elementary school, but I can now go to Stanford after working hard."

Mrs. Zhao and her family are not facing any charges; she came forward of her own free will after seeing Singer outed as the mastermind of the college admissions scam.

Stanford University meanwhile said it did not receive the $6.5million donation.

Lori Loughlin and husband Mossimo Gianulli, who are accused of paying Singer $500,000 to get their daughters into USC by pretending they were on the rowing team, are among the few parents charged in the scam to have pled not guilty.

While the "Full House" star has yet to make a statement, many reports claim the crux of her defense will be that she did not know her payment was illegal, and that she believed it to be a donation to the school... similar to what Mrs. Zhao just admitted without any legal pressure to do so.

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