Bankruptcy Trustee Moves To Deny “Real Housewives of New Jersey” Star’s Discharge

September 7th, 2010 by Reed Allmand

With $11 million in tax debt and accusations of hiding assets from the IRS, Teresa and Joe Giudice are now being accused of bankruptcy fraud and the bankruptcy trustee Roberta A. DeAngelis is asking that their Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge be denied.

DeAngelis accuses the couple of filing schedules and statements they knew were “not true and correct” and making numerous false oaths and “false sworn testimony.”

They also allegedly failed to disclose numerous substantial assets and presented false income tax returns to the bankruptcy court.

In the complaint, DeAngelina noted that Teresa signed a $250,000 deal for her “Skinny Italian” book a week before filing for bankruptcy, but she didn’t include that among her assets.

Among the alleged undisclosed assets are Joe’s bank account, two pieces of real estate property, and the couples’ vehicles.

One of the biggest sources of contention has been the $250,000 book deal that Giudice allegedly signed before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  If it is true that Giudice signed this book deal before filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy and failed inform the court she could face the dismissal of her case or worse.  If a debtor filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy knows that they are receiving income in the future they must disclose this to the bankruptcy court.  For example, if a debtor filing Chapter 7 bankruptcy receives a job offer right before filing bankruptcy, they need to let their bankruptcy attorney know.  The same goes for expected inheritances or even lottery winnings.  If the debtor reasonably suspects that they will be receiving income in the near future before filing bankruptcy they must disclose this information to the bankruptcy court.