If you’re a fan of schadenfreude and not a fan of vaguely child exploiting reality television, you’ll like this news. Abby Lee Miller, who verbally abused aspiring young dance students for the sake of entertainment on the reality show Dance Moms, has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison for bankruptcy fraud and for taking $120,000 worth of Australian currency into the country without reporting it.
As you may recall, in October of 2015, a federal grand jury indicted Abby on 20 counts, including bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets, and false bankruptcy declarations. Prosecutors also alleged that she attempted to cheat creditors by hiding $775,000 worth of income earned from various projects, including Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition. Back in June of last year, she plead guilty to bankruptcy fraud and failing to report bringing the money into the country. Her attorneys argued for probation over jail time, alleging that her creditors were made whole after the fraud was discovered.
On Tuesday, Abby was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, to be served in either West Virginia or California, along with two years of supervised release after prison. She was also fined $40,000 and ordered to pay a $120,000 judgment.
The 51-year-old spoke with ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday, saying that she felt her sentence “sounds like a movie title.” And, in keeping with that thought, she added “I’m going to pretend I’m in a movie and we’re on set and I’m there for 10 months and that’s the way it’s going to be.” Note that she said “10 months” and not “12 months” – that’s because Abby could transition to a halfway house after serving 10 months in prison.
Abby has 44 days to report for prison, and while she’s in the joint she hopes to read more, learn Spanish and work on a new book of her own. When asked what her next chapter will be, Abby responded, “[I hope to] be a smarter businesswoman and also to worry about myself.” The ABC report also implied that we haven’t seen the last of her. Oh, I wish we have.
I know she’ll be out of prison before her full sentence, but I’m glad she got some sort of comeuppance for her crimes. And it’s also nice to know I’m not the only person who can’t stand Abby. Patti LuPone, who went after Madonna on Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday night, also had something to say about Abby’s sentence. Says Ms. LuPone, “She should go to jail for life. Didn’t you find her obnoxious? I found her like, oh I just hated her. She’s, like, the worst dance teacher you ever had when you were a kid. And you just wanted to kill her for hurting kids.” To quote Kaiser, “YAS QUEEN!”
Photos: WENN.com, Getty Images
She is the worst. I danced my entire life growing up and had a teacher that ruined my confidence too. Took me years to get it back. What she did on the show was awful.
Karma is so real
I’ll bet this abusive POS comes out of prison and gets another tv show.
Movie set: make-up people/hair stylists, catered food, go home to your nice bed and fluffy pillows at end of day
Prison: no make- up people/hair stylists, prison food, hard bed and thin pillow, lots of background noise and sharing a small room with a stranger
Abbie better wake up and face reality fast, or this “movie” will turn into a horror show fast
I’ve never watched her show, only know of her from what I’ve read, but yeah…this woman seems to be beyond delusional.
The tan line on her chest confuses me. Is she wearing a scarf in the tanning bed?
She’s already strategically planning her comeback. She had weight loss surgery a couple of weeks ago and she’s talking about writing a book. She’ll be shopping another reality show 10 months from now.
It seems like she’s burned bridges with Lifetime, so I’m betting it’s going to be TLC. They specialize in hot messes.
She’s evil, but just as much of my contempt goes to those moms who watched her viciously & gleefully verbally abuse their children and instead of stopping it just simpered & gossiped and made excuses while their daughters trembled & cried and lost more and more self esteem. There’s a special place in hell for parents who knowingly don’t protect their children.
I’ve caught a few episodes of that show. She is awful and a complete ego maniac.
Sure, she’s awful and unlikeable but she gets jail time for $775,000 while Wall Street folks get bailouts and bonuses?
Come out of jail a smarter business woman? How about some self reflection and trying to come out a better person? She is not taking this seriously at all, she’s just trying to figure out how to turn it into something profitable.
That entire show was a scam. Anytime her studio entered a competition, the producers had all the other competitors sign an agreement that they will forfeit winning first place so that her dancers could be filmed as if they won.
Seriously?!?! That’s insane and so unfair!
Sorry unless you are a dance teacher yourself you have no idea what it’s like to teach children who have parents like those dance moms. If Abby was that bad why would they allow their kids to stay there with her – because they all wanted the fame & fortune -Abby gave them all that. If it wasn’t for her no one would know who any of those ungrateful little cows were. As for those moms – shame on them for taking everything they could from Abby & treating her the way they did. As far as I’m concerned they are the child abuses NOT Abby. From one dancing teacher to another i hope you are ok Abby!!
I work in sport and I’ve seen some truly terrible coaches out there. Terrible coaches continue to get students because they get results and the shallow and superficial parents who keep using them prefer results over their own children’s wellbeing. Parents staying with her doesn’t = Abby being a good person to teach children. Nobody wins, everybody is terrible.