Olivia Jade, Lori Loughlin’s Daughter, Stands to Lose Brand Deals Over College-Admissions Scandal

By Todd Spangler

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of actress Lori Loughlin, is a YouTube beauty vlogger and social-media star with millions of followers.

She’s also (for now) a freshman at the University of Southern California. But in the wake of her mother being implicated as part of a broad college-admissions bribery scam — alleging that Loughlin illegally schemed to get the 19-year-old enrolled at the university — Olivia Jade is likely going to lose the lucrative brand-sponsorship deals she’s landed over the years.

HP has already cut its ties with Olivia Jade. In a statement, the company said, “HP worked with and Olivia Jade in 2017 for a one-time product campaign. HP has removed the content from its properties.” A post promoting HP’s Sprocket photo printer is currently still live on Olivia Jade’s Instagram account .

Olivia Jade Giannulli had also cut brand deals with partners including Amazon, Dolce & Gabbana, Lulus, Marc Jacobs Beauty, Sephora, Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics, Smile Direct Club, Too Faced Cosmetics, Boohoo, and Unilever’s TRESemmé.

A rep for Olivia Jade declined to comment, as did Estée Lauder Companies, which owns Smashbox and Too Faced. None of the other brands or companies Variety reached out to responded to requests for comment as of press time.

“It wouldn’t come as a complete surprise if the brands currently working with Ms. Giannulli took a closer look at the status of their relationship with her and possibly reconsidered next steps for engagement,” said Yuval Ben-Itzhak, CEO of social-media marketing firm Socialbakers. “Brands should always do their proper due diligence on the content and news associated with influencers that they would engage with and are engaging with over time.”

Loughlin, best known for her role on “Full House” (and Netflix’s “Fuller House” revival), on Wednesday turned herself in to the FBI in advance of a court hearing. The actress and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, allegedly paid $500,000 to have their two daughters — Olivia Jade and her older sister, Isabella Rose — designated as recruits for USC’s crew team. Prosecutors said those claims were false as neither of the Gianulli sisters is a member of the university’s rowing team. Mossimo Giannulli was released on $1 million bond Tuesday.

Some 50 people so far have been named as participating in the scam, which law enforcement officials dubbed “Operation Varsity Blues.” Those include “Desperate Housewives” actress Felicity Huffman and TPG Growth founder Bill McGlashan .

The status of Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose at USC going forward is unclear. In a statement Tuesday , USC said it fired two of the employees named in the scandal and said it is cooperating with law enforcement on the investigation. The university did not address the status of the Giannulli sisters or other students.

“USC is in the process of identifying any funds received by the university in connection with this alleged scheme,” its statement said in part. “Additionally, the university is reviewing its admissions processes broadly to ensure that such actions do not occur going forward.”

Currently, Olivia Jade has 1.9 million subscribers to her YouTube channel and 1.3 million Instagram followers.

“I don’t know how much of school I’m going to attend,” she said in a YouTube video posted on Aug. 14, 2018 , the day she started at USC. “But I do want the experience of game days, partying. I don’t really care about school, as you guys all know.” Two days later, she posted a video in which she apologized for the comments.