The drama surrounding the Giudice’s legal matters continues to unfold. Joe Giudice was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release. Teresa Giudice landed herself 15 months. During the course of the Giudice’s fraud indictment it emerged that despite living in the US for the majority of his life, and being married to a US citizen, Joe isn’t one himself, and therefore faces deportation after he serves his time.
Joe’s immigration attorney, Jerard Gonzalez, says that proceedings for a possible deportation will not begin until after Joe’s sentence is completed, however experts connected to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) said that officials could decide to expedite proceedings at any time – even while the Real Housewives Of New Jersey star is still behind bars!
“They could come pick him up tomorrow. I doubt they would do that,” says immigration attorney Edward Shulma (who is not connected to Joe’s case).“They want them to do most of the time.”
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“Joe signed an agreement with prosecutors in March that says he understands that his guilty plea ‘may result in his being subject to immigration proceedings and removed from the United States,’” reports North Jersey.com, and it largely depends on whether or not Joe’s charges of 3 counts bankruptcy fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud are considered “aggravated felonies,” in which case a judge would have no option but to deport Joe. Aggravated felonies include things such as violent crimes, or tax fraud or evasion of more than $10,000, which would apply to Joe.
“The consequences are harsh,” Joe’s attorney agreed, adding that if deported Joe would never be allowed to return to the United States, even though if his wife and children remained here. Mr. Shulma explained that both of Joe’s parents being US citizens could sway things in his favor, but it would largely depend on whether or not his parents became citizens before Joe’s 18th birthday, because in that case Joe would be considered a citizen for all intents and purposes.
Joe’s attorney would not answer when Joe’s parents obtained their citizenship.
Moving on, of course, tonight Teresa and Joe appear on WWHL for a one-on-one sit-down with Andy Cohen. They filmed the exclusive, the first the couple has given, just one day after their sentencing. TMZ reports that Teresa and Joe gave Bravo the first interview in exchange for a hefty paycheck that nearly covers all of their $400,000 restitution!
A source shares that Bravo ponied up $325,000 to get the Giudices first reaction to their sentences – $275k for Teresa, and another $50k for Joe’s contribution. Remember – Teresa has to fork over $200,000 towards the restitution when she surrenders on January 5th.
Of course Bravo disputes this amount – although rest assured Teresa and Joe were paid! And this will definitely be the first of many such paid interviews, but it makes sense that Bravo got first dibs – Teresa and Joe were probably already under contract with the network to do so, as it’s been revealed Bravo is deciding how to handle Teresa’s incarceration.
Andy also tweeted about all the rumors we’ve been hearing concerning Teresa Giudice Fraud-Gate.
Reality Tea will be live-tweeting Teresa and Joe’s revelations tonight, so make sure to join us at 9 pm EST for all the action!
[Photo Credit: Twitter/Bravo]
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