It looks like Teresa and Joe Giudice of The Real Housewives of New Jersey fame really played the system for everything that they could get out of it right up to the very end. The couple found themselves in a Newark court this morning in front of U.S. District Court Judge Ester Salas for a sentencing phase that dragged on for the entire work day. Salas made it clear from the start that she was none too happy with the Bravolebrities as she first sentenced Joe to 41 months in federal prison and two years of supervised release. Teresa has been sentenced to 15 months in prison on federal fraud charges and is actually expected to serve her sentence first because Joe will likely be deported immediately after serving his sentence. By Teresa going to jail first it means that the couple's four children will have a parent to raise them at home.
The couple was supposed to have filed financial disclosure forms by a March deadline and they waited until Aug.19 to get those in. That certainly helped to postpone sentencing. Also both were scolded by Judge Salas because there were "glaring omissions" in those disclosure forms. There were seven big ticket items not filed with the probation office that were listed in the federal prosecutor's documents. After showing several instances of omissions and inconsistencies Salas declared the couple unlikely contenders for leniency. In fact the idea of perjury charges being filed against them was actually mentioned.
Joe was looking at between 37 and 46 months in prison while Teresa was faced with between 21 and 27 months in custody for committing loan and bankruptcy fraud. Joe will now be serving 41 months in federal prison and and Teresa is looking at 15 months behind bars with both owing a restitution payment of $414,588.90.
During today's sentencing Twitter was on fire with former fans of The Real Housewives of New Jersey couple, now hoping that they would serve the same kind of punishment that any one not on television would likely get. One tweet summed it up by saying that the dragged out cliffhanger drama today was better than any Bravo reality show. After nearly 6 hours in the courtroom Teresa finally read a letter apologizing and asking for leniency for the sake of her daughters. She broke down and cried like a baby, something the judge seemed to be waiting for however fans couldn't help but think that she's more sorry for getting caught than anything else.
What do you think about the punishment that was handed down today? Everyone expected Joe to get jail time but seeing the judge throw the book at Teresa was a bit of a surprise. Should she have gotten more time? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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