When Teresa and Joe Giudice were sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of federal fraud, the judge cited inconsistencies between their 2009 bankruptcy filing and the assets they listed in court documents for their case. Judge Esther Salas admonished the Giudices for not declaring multiple assets, including cars, ATVs, jewelry, purses and designer goods. Teresa countered in court that her jewelry was all costume and worthless. In his Watch What Happens Live interview, Joe claimed that he was listing the current resale value of purchased goods and that their value had decreased since 2009. Teresa also admitted that she never read anything Joe gave her to sign and that she never understood that her plea deal could involve jail time.
On the eve of her 15 month prison sentence, Teresa is now suing her bankruptcy attorney for $5 million. Teresa’s suit claims that the attorney’s botched bankruptcy filing led to the federal investigation that they’re about to serve time for.
“Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Giudice is suing her former attorney for $5 million, claiming he is the reason she’s going to jail for 15 months starting in January.
In papers filed Wednesday in Manhattan Supreme Court, the reality TV star claims that James Kridel botched her family’s original bankruptcy filing in 2010 and then prepared faulty amendments.
Giudice also claims Kridel, who has offices in Clifton, N.J., and Manhattan, inadequately prepared her for a hearing before the federal Bankruptcy Court trustee and creditors who were owed $13 million by Giudice and her husband.
After the bankruptcy trustee objected to the couple’s filing, they were hit with a federal indictment charging bankruptcy and mortgage fraud for hiding assets in the bankruptcy proceeding.
Teresa and Joe systematically defrauded creditors, faked documents to obtain loans, and then filed for bankruptcy when they couldn’t afford to pay back all the money they stole. Just take a look at their home and some of the tacky crap they bought to see how they spent $12 million of other people’s money. During their bankruptcy they continued to lie, hide assets and spend money, they even flaunted their lavish vacations and big ticket purchases on social media and in the tabloids. I want to bring up just one small example. On Twitter last year, Teresa posted photos of ATVs that she had purchased for her daughters. Those ATVs were never listed in their asset report to the court, although probation officers spotted them during a home visit, along with a $15,000 Chevy Corvette they never declared. According to court observers, this is why they’re going to jail, because they pissed off the judge in their court case. How is it their bankruptcy attorney’s fault that they failed to list their assets in this other case in which he was not involved?
This is the problem with these people. They commit crimes and then blame other people when they go to prison. There’s no sense of personal responsibility whatsoever, and they’re the victims despite living high on the hog on other people’s money.
Even when they’re about to go to prison, they’re still refusing to take responsibility and are blaming their lawyer.
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i’d like to sue them for being so annoying
Lol. Me,too. Wonder if we could use some kind of intentional infliction of emotional distress?
I think we could have a Class Action lawsuit. 🙂
Hahahahaha. Perfect.
They’re suing a lawyer? Yeah, good luck with that
Right? Am I a terrible person for asking this: How stupid is she?
Once you sue your attorney, privilege goes away because the attorney is now allowed to use the once confidential information to prove he/she didn’t screw up. Just might be a strategic mistake on her part; could be lots of fun for us!
Great story, perhaps apocryphal, about a prominent Houston defense attorney who saved his client from a capital murder conviction. The client griped about the bill and threatened to sue, and the attorney explained he would be happy to make public all the evidence he got quashed and let the jury decide if he did his job well. The client then threatened to kill him, at which point the attorney chuckled and asked, “But then who would you get to represent you on that murder charge?” Client paid up.
If that was true, they would have reported the attorney to the NY Bar and have him disbarred. Obviously it’s not the attorney’s fault they are hitting the pokey. They just want one last money grab before they go away.
Here is the thing about Theresa. Even if she has no reading comprehension, she hears ONLY what she wants to hear. No matter what the lawyer said, she hears only what’s in her head, and acts accordingly. Even if there is no basis for her own conclusions. She acts like it’s fact and is gravely offended when it turns out that it is not so.
Further, when a situation doesn’t turn out the way she’d like, she straight up lies so that it becomes the other person’s problem.
+1. It’s a special kind of crazy to behold
i work with someone like that… ugh…
hello? its me delusional, i’d like to speak to takenoresponsibility please…
She also pretty clearly thought that hiring an attorney meant that she would get out of this mess with a slap on the wrist. Its astounding to see someone who has so willfully closed her eyes and her ears to what was happening.
+1, that is *exactly* what she thought “hiring an attorney” would accomplish… it’s like she think she lives a Hollywood movie-Mafioso life.
To her, paying an attorney = them getting you out scot free.
No one can get out of bankruptcy fraud and tax evasion. Two proponents of the law that the feds can nail you dead on rights.
There must be something mentally wrong with her because there is no other explanation for her behavior. The lack of remorse and refusal to take any responsibility for her actions is astounding. She lied and hid assets from her attorney and just tried the judge’s patience with obvious foolishness. She has no one but herself to blame for her serving jail time. In fact she got off easy compared to what she was facing thanks to her attorneys and the judge.
She does have a mental deficiency, she’s a moron. Her husband is a physical manifestation of that. I cringe everytime I see him- 15 lbs of stupid in a 10lb bag of derp- he literally looks like “Uh, Duh”. (Remember the way you said it in middle school? Like that.)
“15 lbs of stupid in a 10lb bag of derp” is my new favorite saying. Thank you for that.
You guys are cracking me up!! I’m still laughing over this whole exchange. Great way to start my morning – thank you!!
Is there a word for being pathologically unable to take responsibility for a single da*n thing in your life? What an ingrate. I read somewhere that she withheld information from her own lawyer hoping she would get in less trouble – and now she’s suing? She’ll say it’s all for her daughters.
Legal people out there – will this suit get thrown out of court, or be litigated, or what? Is she hoping for a settlement to make some money? What lawyer would represent a criminal to sue another lawyer?
If she could prove her counsel was incompetent, she might have a shot at overturning her entire conviction and jail sentence since it would have stemmed from that incompetence. However, it’ll be hard to prove. I think the lawyer she’s suing will actually have an easier time proving that she was the cause of the problems. Hopefully he can then turn around and sue her for defamation and frivolous prosecution. What’s good for the goose…
I’m thinking narcissistic sociopath?
See also: Armstrong, Lance.
@ Esmom,
See also: Leann Rimes.
Textbook narcissism on display.
http://samvak.tripod.com/narcissistblameguilt.html
Ooh, Esmom! You’re so right about that! Hubby & I have the documentary about Lance on the dvr and I’m waiting to get in the right frame of mind to watch it. It looks sickening, but we gotta do it!
GingerCrunch, I’m with you, wanting to see it yet not. My husband was a huge fan, while my suspicions were raised early on, which used to outrage my husband. So it is a bit of a sore subject in our house.
Former court reporter over here (like a stenographer) weighing in. This behaviour is actually pretty common. Sure, there are lots of people who will testify that yes, they did X that contributed in some fashion to the outcome of Y. They take responsibility for their role in the whole situation, even if it hurts their case a bit (having said that, showing that you’re willing to engage in the whole process as a reasonable adult – should be a given, but isn’t – goes a long, long way towards building goodwill with the courts.)
And then there’s these people. They paint themselves as tragic victims of circumstances totally beyond their control/intelligence level and defer all responsibility to someone, anyone, else. They are never to blame and it’s always someone else’s fault. Even when presented with overwhelming evidence that they have in fact done wrong, they will not acknowledge it. Admitting that they’ve done wrong in any fashion or contributed to the current situation doesn’t fall in line with the version of the truth they’ve told themselves, and so they lie, hide and otherwise piss off and/or sue everyone around them because it’s preferable to admitting they’re idiots, cheats and frauds. These two are also clearly frantic at this point (hell, I’d be) and grasping at straws.
So lots of narcissism combined with some pathological lying and your standard, run of the mill, dumbassness (with a dash of reality TV madness)?
So, if she loses this lawsuit against the bankruptcy lawyer and then the lawyer files a counter suit against her for damages then wins. Where will she get the money to pay that and her current lawyer?
Why do I think Teresa’s next money making scheme involves her, Juicy Joe and a leaked sex tape? Shudder
I don’t use this word too lightly or with frequency, but that woman is so hateable. She’s a walking caricature of the worst, most detestable traits found in the species: Greedy, vain, stupid, selfish, course, utterly un-self-aware and criminal. I could go on and on, but then I’d be spending too much time on a subject worth little attention. The end.
And yet Bravo has decided that this woman is the centerpiece of RHNJ. There are rumors that they’re delaying filming until she gets out of prison. I don’t get it at all.
Apparently they, Bravo, are giving her a cooking show when she gets out. She flipped a table and Andy has been praising her ever since.
The question bothering me is , whose to blame for that hairline? obviously these two criminal geniuses need to go away for awhile. I just have a dreadful feeling that she will be out in time to have a new reality show ready for 2016 production.
I haven’t seen a hairline like this in my life.
Long suppressed/ overwritten simian genes reemerging?
I can’t take my eyes off her forehead….What it this thing????
You mean three-head (two-head?)?
Funny, I always wonder WHERE her forehead is. It’s a twohead.
This is the problem with suing your former lawyer: the attorney client privilege is waived. The lawyer can talk about all of his conversations with her. Who knows what that will reveal? Also, a lawyer is only as good as the information provided by the client. In a credibility contest between someone who’s pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud and the lawyer, guess who wins with a court or a jury? Also, she can be deposed. A deposition can range far and wide. Does she really want to testify under oath in a deposition that might become public?
Oh, this is very, very good information. Being the monstrous narcissist she is, though, she won’t even begin to consider that. Her arrogance and fantasy Hollywood – Mafioso- protection lifestyle won’t even begin to allow it.
Onward, Icharus! Into the sun!!!!!
Thank you Voyeur! She has no clue what’s she talking about and will no-doubt drop the law suit once she learns what’s really in store for her if she follows through with it. I wish no one would tell her so she does follow through with it. I would love for this macho wolfman woman to be completely exposed. She thinks they’re the modern day “Corliones” but they’re so ignorant, they’re just a couple two-bit thugs.
AHAHAHAHA I want this to happen so bad!!!!!!
It would be hilarious if all her lawsuit accomplishes is making her look like an even bigger imbecile when the lawyer can reveal previously confidential information! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I can’t wait to read it all! And laugh!
Blame and sue everybody-else for what she and her husband did and don’t want to face the consequences? Great!
These 2 will NEVER take responsibility for their actions, and will continue to lie, cheat, and steal their way through life, probably hurting many as they go.
Heaven forbid she hold herself accountable for being a shyster!
She loses this case and they will go after her for their attorneys’ fees defending him against this frivolous lawsuit, which will be huge. Just tack that on to her debt.
Ultimately, they were continually late getting their financials into the Court, had to have an extension on that, and she should look to her husband before her attorney. You can say maybe her attorney was sloppy in not catching what they left off or not sitting on them about everything because they are stupid and known liars, but they filled out their financials and left off what they owned or recently bought. How is he to know they recently bought new furniture, new vehicle, etc.
She and Joe are losers.
In their WWHL interview, they blamed their discrepancy on others too, she the accountant, and he the probation officer. They said that these people should have reported their assets to the court. Huh?
Then she said she blamed her lawyer for not telling her that the plea deal might involve prison time even though they both acknowledged that if they want ahead with the trial, they might get 10 years if found guilty of even one count.
She knew her jewelry wasn’t worth $0. Every time they bought a vehicle or whatever else, they should have mentioned it to their lawyer and looked at the lists he submitted to the court. How hard is it for them to look at a list of their assets? They’re even posted online at gossip sites for all to see. It can’t be that hard to read.
I think it was a huge mistake for the judge not to imprison them straight away and both of them at the same time. All that judge did was prolong and enliven the media and legal stunts these two pull, especially by Teresa,
And I think it would have been better that both be put in prison at the same time, because now with their prison sentences staggered, that’s an extra 15 months of Teresa making this into a media circus.