Olivia Jade addresses college admissions scandal, revives YouTube channel

Olivia Jade Giannulli returned to YouTube with a video Sunday, ending a nearly nine-month hiatus from her channel amid revelations of the college admissions scandal in March.

“I have been gone for a really long time, and as much as I wish I could talk about all of this, it’s really hard for me to say this just because I know that it’s something that needs to be addressed,” she said in her two-minute. “But the reason for that is that I’m legally not allowed to speak on anything going on right now.” 

In her video, Olivia Jade told her 1.93 million subscribers that even though she is not allowed to speak on the college admissions scandal due to legal reasons, she wants to move on, uploading more videos and reviving her channel to “start taking smaller steps in the right direction.” 

“This is something that I’m really passionate about and something I really like to do, but I also didn’t know,” she said. “I debated for seven or eight months like, well if I can’t talk about it, is there a point in coming back and not being able to say anything? I want to come back because I want to come back.” 

An FBI investigation released in March detailed Newport Beach businessman William “Rick” Singer’s scheme to help wealthy parents gain their children admission to prestigious universities with fabricated athletic profiles. Of the 16 USC parents named in the Operations Varsity Blues case, Olivia Jade’s parents, actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were accused of paying $500,000 to secure her and her sister Isabella Rose’s admission to USC as false crew recruits.

Olivia Jade and Isabella Rose — two of nearly three dozen students who were involved in the scandal at USC — are no longer enrolled at USC, USC Registrar confirmed late October.

Loughlin and Mossimo both pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery in their third superseding indictment in Boston federal court on Nov. 1, with their attorney waiving their right to appear in court for their Nov. 20 arraignment. 

To date, the two have been charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and honest services mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. They each face up to 20 years in prison.