As federal prosecutors on Tuesday brought new money laundering charges against 16 parents enmeshed in the college admissions scandal, a question hung over the sprawling case: Would anybody implicated in the scam actually serve time behind bars?

The Hollywood actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, the designer Mossimo Giannulli, were among those indicted on a count of conspiracy to commit fraud and another of money laundering conspiracy, raising the legal stakes for parents who have not said whether they would plead guilty in the case.