Mossimo Giannulli, parent accused in the university admissions scandal, may have misinterpreted his own university studies

In an October 2016 article on the fashion blog "The Hundreds", author Bobby Hundreds writes that Giannulli "not only convinced his father that he was a student in falsifying the report cards, Mossimo has forced him to shell out fees with fake course notes., Moss used this starting money to launch his foray into the T-shirt industry. "

Giannulli has never been full-time student at the University of Southern California. And his daughter, Olivia Jade, influential in social media, also said in a podcast interview that he had used his tuition to launch his iconic business.

He was enrolled in the College of Continuing Education, a non-degree program open to anyone "without the condition of formal admission".

USC would not share what, if he was attending classes.

These students received a "visitor status". Nevertheless, Giannulli lived in a school fraternity.

A spokesman for the fraternity told CNN that at the time, "associating non-degree students with the fellowship would not have been unusual".

CNN contacted some members of the fraternity, but no call was returned.

Life at the fraternity marked a turning point in Giannulli's life.

Hundreds of people wrote on his blog that Giannulli had said: "SC was expensive, so it was that I started my business.I used all that money.I had some Hundreds of thousands of money in my top drawer of my fraternity house.I thought to myself, "It is too easy. I need a bigger platform. If I had a bigger base, I could really kill her … "

Giannulli then turned his t-shirt business into "Mossimo". He was then authorized by Target. Giannulli sold his interest in the company in 2006 and has not worked for the brand for several years, according to new owners.

Giannulli's youngest daughter, Olivia, age 19, was accepted by USC and registered in the fall of 2018. A social media influencer, who once counted nearly 2 million people subscribed to her YouTube channel, spoke about from his father's "crazy" time at the university a recent video podcast, "The Zach Sang Show".

The interview was published on March 8, 2019, just four days before his parents were charged. Professionally known as Olivia Jade, she told Sang: "I do not know if I'm supposed to say that, sorry dad." But (his father) was as if he had never been registered at the university, he falsified his way.Yeah, so then he started his business with the tuition money that his parents thought were going to go to university. "

In that same interview, Olivia Jade explained that she was considering using her time at the university to improve her brand with her experience at the university. "Mainly, my parents really wanted me to go because both of them did not go to university … I think they did it well." Hypocrites. But I am so happy that they have made me leave, it looks so terrible that they have not done me. "

Since then, Olivia Giannulli has put everything on the market, from Amazon products to invisible dental appliances. Recently, she filed a trademark registration application for makeup kits. Perry Viscounty, the lawyer on the application, also represents his parents in the college admissions file. CNN attempted to contact Mossimo and Olivia Giannulli via Viscounty, but declined to comment.

Perry Viscounty is also enrolled in the USC as a student and law student. And listed just two rows behind Mossimo Giannulli in this photo of Beta Theta Pi from 1984 – brother of the Perry Viscounty fraternity. Maybe a good lesson of connections.