By Lauren Wallenfels
The Giudice’s financial issues have been an issue ever since they filed for bankruptcy back in 2009. In July of 2013 they couple were charged a with 39-count indictment and later charged withtwo more. Joe, 43 and Teresa, 42, continued to plea quilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit mail, and tax fraud. Joe also pleaded guilty to tax invasion last March. Their original court date was set for July but got pushed back to September.
Their court date was highly anticipated. Their judge was U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas. On their September 29th court date they finally found out their charges. Joe was charged with 41 months in jail and the possibility of deportation back to Italy. Teresa was charged with 15 months in jail. As far as their charges, Judge Salas took a fair approach, considering the couples four daughters, Gia, 13, Gabriella, 9, Malania, 8, and Audriana, 5. In fairness to the couple, Judge Salas ordered Teresa to serve her jail time first, while Joe stays home with the children, and when Teresa gets out Joe will begin serving his jail time. The judge even postponed Teresa’s jail time start date so that they could spend the holidays as a family.
The Giudice’s financial issues were looked into specifically from 2009-201, as that was during the time that most of their crimes were committed. They had a total of undisclosed assets of $1 million. They also claimed that there houses contents were only worth $25,000 when in actuality they were worth $1 million. Teresa falsely claimed that she was employed in a mortgage application, but was actually unemployed from 2001 to 2008. In 2004,Joe failed to file a tax return. He also cheated the government out of almost $250,000 by failing to report $1 million between the years of 2000 to 2008. This caused them to owe close to $425,000 in restitution. Teresa has already paid half of her restitution.
Since their court date the couple has been trying to hold it together for their children. They placed their mansion for $3.99 million when it was previously bought for $530,000 back in 2002. They also placed their beach house for sale. Teresa commented on her charges by saying, “I fully take responsibility for my actions,” in a letter she wrote and read in court. Joe said, “I stand here humiliated before the court, my family, and society. I disgraced many people, including my wife and four daughters. I take full responsibility for my actions and promise to be a better person.” Judge Salas said, “What you did in this case doesn’t define you as a man,” in response to his comment. The couple placed themselves in an unfortunate position. The best thing for the couple to do at this point is lay low, so that when all of this is over in a little less than five years they can resume to “normalcy” whatever that may be for them. We wish the couple nothing but the best in their future endeavors and hopefully this will all die down soon enough.
