Julio Cortez/AP
The 'Real Housewives of New Jersey' could start looking more like 'Lockdown' if reality TV stars Joe and Teresa Giudice wind up in jail.
A federal judge in Newark is poised to provide the latest plot twist when she sentences the hot-tempered couple Thursday for tax fraud and conspiracy.
Judge Esther Salas could spare Teresa from the 'Orange is the New Black' scenario by allowing her to serve out her sentence in their tacky Towaco, N.J., mansion.
But Salas was showing neither Giudice much mercy in the courtroom, at one point yelling at them for not alerting the court that they had bought 'recreational vehicles, home furnishings, cars, construction equipment' and other items in recent months.
'They had an obligation to be transparent and candid and open with the court, and I don't think I got that,' Salas said. 'I want to understand the disconnect.'
As the usually gabby Giudices stood mute, Salas was reminded that they pulled this kind of stunt before.
'It's the same pattern of obstruction and dishonesty and manipulation that they showed in the bankruptcy case,' a prosecutor told the judge.
Joe's lawyer, Miles Feinstein, blamed the reporting lapses on the death of his client's dad in June.
'He hasn't been the same person,' Feinstein said. 'That was his best friend.'
The couple pleaded guilty in March to hiding assets from bankruptcy creditors and submitting phony loan applications to get some $5 million in mortgages and construction loans.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Joe Giudice, 43, faces a potential sentence of 37 to 46 months and his wife could be jailed for 21 to 27 months.
Lawyers for Teresa, who is 42, have pleaded for probation so she could take care for the couple's four young daughters.
In court papers obtained by TMZ.com, Teresa insisted she was not the ballbuster she portrays in the Bravo series.
Bill Denver/for The New York Daily News
'The image is little more than a carefully crafted fiction, engineered by Bravo TV through scripted lines and clever editing,' the papers state.
Feinstein insisted Joe is a generous, self-made man and nothing like 'the Housewives Joe.'
When Joe does get out of jail he might wind up with a one-way ticket back to Italy. He was brought to the U.S. as an infant and didn't know he wasn't an American citizen.
The couple pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and three types of bankruptcy fraud.
Joe also pleaded guilty to failing to file a tax return for 2004, although he has acknowledged he didn't file taxes on income of approximately $1 million between 2004 and 2008.
On top of having to sleep in separate beds for the foreseeable future, the Giudices may still have a $13 million bill to pay.
The two had petitioned the court to settle their 2009 bankruptcy case, but the docket states 'Discharge Denied' and the case was closed on Sept. 29.
Trustee John Sywilok and the couple's lawyer did not immediately respond to emails seeking clarification.
In a preview for the sixth season of America's favorite low-rent reality show, the Giudices visited a psychic.
'I sense things are going to be fine for you,' a psychic medium tells Teresa. 'Your husband, I'm not so sure about.'
It remains to be seen if the psychic is right.
With Dareh Gregorian
csiemaszko@nydailynews.com
Posted by Unknown on Thursday, October 2, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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