‘RHONJ’: Teresa Giudice Gives Todd and Julie Chrisley Advice Ahead of Their Prison Sentences
Scandals are nothing new to reality TV stars, and The Real Housewives of New Jersey OG Teresa Giudice is not exempt. She nearly lost her former mansion in foreclosure amid a bankruptcy filing – and served time in prison for bankruptcy fraud. Now, she’s giving advice to fellow reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are also set to serve time for tax and fraud crimes.
Teresa Giudice served a 15-month prison sentence for bankruptcy fraud
Despite insisting on her innocence, Teresa ended up pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, one count of bankruptcy fraud by concealment of assets, one count of bankruptcy fraud by false oaths, and one count of bankruptcy fraud by false declarations. Teresa later revealed she didn’t understand the terms of her plea and only pleaded guilty at the advice of her lawyer.
“The Giudices together deceived financial institutions with patently false loan applications; were dishonest when they sought the protection of the bankruptcy court and hid assets and income from the trustee; and Giuseppe Giudice cheated the government by failing to pay taxes on years of significant income,” U.S. Attorney Fishman said in a statement at the time of their sentencing. “When they pleaded guilty, both admitted swearing to statements they knew were lies. Prison is the appropriate penalty for these serious financial crimes.”
Teresa’s then-husband Joe also told the court that Teresa had nothing to do with the crimes, nor was she aware. The bankruptcy fraud reportedly happened before RHONJ premiered in 2009.
The ‘RHONJ’ star wants Todd and Julie Chrisley to stay strong
Todd and Julie are scheduled to begin their respective sentences soon. Teresa says being in a good mental state is what she hopes for the couple.
“Stand strong,” Teresa told TMZ. “Standing strong for their family and manifest, while being in prison, what they want when they come out and just to be strong for their children.”
For the four-time best-selling author, she says the most challenging part for her was being apart from their children. She suspects it’ll be the same for the Chrisleys. “It’s gonna be very hard, but they have to make the best of it, and they have to stand strong for their family and stay connected to their children and make it work,” she added.
Todd and Julie’s children are adults, except their teenage son. They also have custody of their granddaughter. “The thing is, my children were young,” Teresa continued. “Based on their schedules at least go once a month. Always keep connected, keep the family connected, stand strong together.”
Her ex-husband Joe Giudice says the situation with The Chrisleys is similar
The judge in Teresa and her ex Joe’s case allowed them to serve their sentences separately so that one parent would always be with their four children. Teresa went in first, followed by Joe, who spent nearly four years in prison before being released to ICE and deported back to Italy. He believes taking plea deals in their cases worked in their favor.
“I’m assuming they probably gave him a plea deal for, like, 48 months, something like that. Something like I got, all right? So, you get 36 months out of that, on good time and all that, and then if you get the drug programs, alcohol programs, and all that, you get even less time. So, you do maybe 15 months, you know, 14 months, something like that,” Joe said while appearing on Teresa’s podcast Namaste B$tches.
He added: “But if he would have taken the plea, which you can’t go to trial against the feds. You can’t do it. You gonna lose. You have a better chance going to trial against state, and even state is tough, you know what I mean? Civil’s another program, you know what I mean? So, it’s, it’s tough. We did the right thing. We took the plea, we licked our wounds and did what we had to do and moved on.”
