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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
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Deportation of ‘Real Housewives’ Husband Put on Hold

Brought to the United States from Italy as a baby, the husband of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice persuaded the Third Circuit to block his deportation.

PHILADELPHIA (CN) - Brought to the United States from Italy as a baby, the husband of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice persuaded the Third Circuit to block his deportation.

Giuseppe "Joe" Giudice, from the television show "Real Housewives of New Jersey," attends an Oct. 15, 2014, hearing in the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson, N.J. The Third Circuit ruled Wednesday that Giudice can stay in the U.S. as his appeal progresses. Giudice and his wife, Teresa, pleaded guilty in 2014 to financial fraud. Teresa Giudice served her sentence first and was released in December 2015. (William Perlman/NJ Advance Media via AP, Pool)

The court granted relief to Joe Giudice pending his appeal Wednesday, which also marked the 47th birthday of the reality television star.

Giudice faces removal after he and Teresa pleaded guilty in 2014 to financial fraud. Prosecutors said the couple submitted false loan applications to get $5 million in mortgages and construction loans, and Joe Giudice also pleaded guilty to not paying about $200,000 in income taxes.

Immigration authorities have been holding Joe Giudice at a detention center in Pennsylvania since his release from prison in March. Under an agreement with the government, Giudice served his sentence after Teresa served her term and was released in December 2015, that way the couple could care of their four young daughters. 

The court also allowed Joe Giudice to serve his federal sentence concurrently with an 18-month state sentence for unrelated charges. After a 2010 drunken driving incident, Giudice pleaded guilty in 2014 to impersonating his brother and unlawfully using the brother’s identity to get a clean driver’s license.

Giudice has claimed through his attorney that he was unaware he did not have U.S. citizenship, but a judge ruled in October that he would be deported upon completion of his sentence. 

More than two dozen former immigration judges filed a brief with the Third Circuit this month in support of Giudice's appeal. The Philadelphia-based court is expected to issue a decision on the merits of Giudice’s case in the coming months.

Giudice is represented by Thomas Moseley.

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Categories / Criminal, Entertainment

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