If you're totally and utterly confused about what the hell goes on in the world de Giudice, you are not alone!
Here we all were thinking that Teresa Giudice withdrew her bankruptcy filing in lieu of repaying her defrauded creditors the good ol' fashioned way – with work! But now media outlets are reporting Teresa and Joe, who both pled guilty to multiple financial fraud charges (including bankruptcy fraud), recently had their bankruptcy discharged. Which would mean they went forward with the filing? Seriously – any experts please chime in!
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First up, TMZ explains what exactly the Giudices got to keep and lose in the bankruptcy. Despite living the high life, the Giudices are being rewarded with a clean slate from a bankruptcy judge after paying only $7,500 to creditors! In exchange they get to wash away over $13 MILLION in debts. Let's break this down…
First up, what they declared on their filing. Court documents reveal the Giudices own three properties – their massive "re-done" mansion featured on Real Housewives of New Jersey, their shore house (also featured on RHONJ) and another property. The have $140k in equity in their primary residence (the mansion) worth about $1.7M, but $0 in equity in their other two properties.
A judge previously ruled that Teresa and Joe would not have to forfeit their home in the bankruptcy because it was worth less than they owed on it and not valuable enough to sell. Teresa did decorate it…
In addition to the properties the Giudices declared a Maserati, an Escalade, a Ford 350, in addition to "toys" such as a Sea-Doo boat, a Kawasaki quad, 2 go carts and others. None of these belongings have ANY EQUITY either. Moving on, they valued their dogs at $600, but the trustee assessed the dogs as valueless.
With all of these assets lacking equity and a mountain of debts the Giudices have repaid a whopping $7 grand and their creditors which include 5 banks who loaned Joe and Co. over a million dollars each, and Wachovia bank which loaned $3.5M. Right… so why do I bother paying my bills again? The Giudices are scheduled to stand trial related to defrauding these banks into loaning them money.
Moving on, Radar Online gives even more insight into the very sketchy financial dealings of the Giudices. And while it looks like the Giudices won at bankruptcy – that's possibly short-term. Related to their financial fraud case, prosecutors are taking actions to seize all of the Giudices assets to repay fraudulently obtained money. That's more like it! Get'em Feds.
Prosecutors also believe Teresa and Joe are STILL trying to conceal money and assets. “The judge and the prosecutor are aware that Teresa could still be trying to hide money,” an insider reveals. “That isn’t going to go over well at her sentencing, for her.”
At a March 19th book signing in Garfield, NJ, Teresa charged fans $25 to pose with her and video footage captured her accepting cash ONLY fees.
“Teresa was advertised as the the celebrity guest and that she would be signing copies of her latest book," a guest in attendance recalls. "But nowhere was it advertised that she would be charging guests $25 to sign and take a photo with her."
“When you walked up to her, the woman next to her was quick to advise that it was $25 and ‘cash only.’ Cash only? Who takes cash only? Even Teresa was telling guests it was ‘cash only, no receipts’ and she had bags of cash beside her where her colleague was collecting the money.”
A law enforcement agent calls the behavior a "red flag." Teresa and Joe return to court July 8th to receive sentencing for their crimes. As part of their retribution they will reportedly be required to repay a significant portion of their debts.
“The feds are threatening to take Joe and Teresa’s homes, cars and future earnings, all to pay the settlement if she can’t come up with the money,” explained the insider. “If she continues to flout the law in their faces, things could get worse for her… before they get better!” Teresa is hoping to walk away with probation only, claiming she was a victim of Joe's schemes.
[Photo Credit: Joel Ginsburg/WENN.com]
UPDATE: here are the documents filed this week
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