Teresa Giudice Maintains Innocence in 2014 Fraud Case (2024)

Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice is denying committing any crime despite pleading guilty to a host of fraud charges back in 2014. Giudice was given a 15-month sentence, while her the reality star's now ex-husband, Joe Giudice, was sentenced to 41 months on multiple counts of fraud back in Oct 2014. However, Teresa Giudice was released after serving only 11 months and was back home by December 23, 2015.

Despite being out of jail for almost a decade and pleading guilty in front of a District Court Judge, Giudice still emphasizes her innocence. She claims having no knowledge of what her ex-husband was up to and she had signed the papers without knowing their true nature because he told her to. She explains this in the first episode of her new podcast Turning the Tables, stating:

“I think a lot of us wives out there do sign papers that our husbands tell us to sign.”

Back in 2014, just after the couple had been sentenced, they sat down with Bravo’s Andy Cohen for a Watch What Happens Live special to talk about court proceedings. Throughout the interview, Joe Giudice seemed to take the fall for almost all of the crimes. He even went so far as to claim that he had duped his wife into signing papers and other documents to advance his fraud. However, the prosecution and the judge did not seem to agree with that notion and separately charged Teresa Giudice with bank fraud and tax fraud among other financial crimes.

The Real Housewives of New Jersey

TV-14

Reality TV

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Teresa Giudice's husband Luis Ruelas loaned $1M after buying mansion

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Another installment of Bravo's "The Real Housewives" reality show. In this series, they focus on housewives living in New Jersey.

Release Date

May 12, 2009

Cast

Teresa Giudice , Melissa Gorga , Joe Gorga , Dolores Catania , Gia Giudice , Milania Giudice , Jacqueline Laurita , Margaret Josephs

Main Genre

Reality TV

Seasons

14

Joe and Teresa Giudice Have Been Facing the Legal Fallout for 10 Years

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, Joe and Teresa Giudice engaged in a mail and wire fraud conspiracy in which they had submitted fraudulent applications and supporting documents to obtain mortgages and other loans. The duo had falsely claimed on loan applications and other supporting documentation that they were employed and receiving salaries when they were not. Teresa had applied for a $121,500 mortgage loan in September 2001, claiming that she was working as an executive assistant. She also submitted fake W-2 forms and pay stubs issued by her purported employer.

Among other false loan applications, the couple filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Newark, filing several amendments to the petition later on. But the Giudices failed to report $250,000 in assets, which they were required to do as part of bankruptcy filings. The couple also did not claim ownership of an online boutique called TG Fabulicious in addition to Joe Giudice’s 1601 Maple Avenue Associates, LLC. Giudice also did not file his tax returns from 2004 to 2008 —he reportedly made an income of around a million dollars during that time.

Joe Giudice was released after three and a half years behind bars in 2019, after which he was exiled to Italy. He had initially appealed against his deportation, but the appeal was denied. Joe and Teresa Giudice split up in December of the same year and their divorce was finalized a year later in 2020.

Real Housewives of New Jersey Season 14, Episode 7, ‘“Gifts and Receipts” will air on Bravo on Sunday, June 16, 2024, and will later be available to stream on Peaco*ck.

Watch on Peaco*ck