Reality star deported to Italy after fraud conviction asks Trump for 'second chance'
Former reality TV star Joe Giudice says he's done his time after being convicted and deported from the U.S. and is asking Donald Trump for a second chance so he can reunite with his daughters.
Giudice, 53, was hit with a 41-month jail sentence in 2014 after being convicted of multiple counts of bankruptcy fraud and one of tax dodging.
After being released, he was deported to his native Italy in 2019 and has been living in the Bahamas since 2021, where he is waging a legal campaign to be allowed back into the US.
Amid the White House 's push to rid the U.S. of illegal migrants, the ex-Real Housewives of New Jersey star pleaded his case to the president in an Instagram post to return to the country he grew up in on Thursday.
'I'm Joe Giudice. I served my time, and I've been deported from the U.S. for nearly a decade,' he wrote.
'I was raised in Jersey, I'm a father of four amazing daughters, and I just want to be allowed to visit them again.'
'President Trump, I respect you and I'm asking for a second chance.'
Giudice's former Real Housewives colleague Siggy Flicker, who Trump appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council earlier this year, commented that she's working on it.
Flicker wrote: 'I'm trying. Joe should be back home with his beautiful daughters!!!!!!'
Giudice's criminal conviction and subsequent deportation also ended his marriage – with ex-wife Teresa also sentenced to 11 months inside.
At the time of their conviction, the Justice Department released a statement that made an example of the former couple and highlighted the risks of 'cheating the government' by failing to pay taxes.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said: 'The Giudices together deceived financial institutions with patently false loan applications; were dishonest when they sought the protection of the bankruptcy court and hid assets and income from the trustee; and Giuseppe [Joe] Giudice cheated the government by failing to pay taxes on years of significant income.
'When they pleaded guilty, both admitted swearing to statements they knew were lies. Prison is the appropriate penalty for these serious financial crimes.'
Giudice said in 2023 that he still doesn't believe he did much wrong – and slammed the US for dumping him 'like a dog' in Italy.
He said: 'I got thrown into a country that I knew nothing about. All right, basically, just dumped there like, like, like, I don't know, like, I guess a dog, you know what I mean. Not even a dog gets dumped like that.
'And, you know, thank God, Italy took me in and, and basically took care of me. You know, they actually treated me like a person, not like the US.
'The US treats you like garbage. I mean, they treat their own citizens like garbage. You know what? I mean, it's ridiculous the way they treat people there when you get involved in, you know, certain things like this.'
An audibly angry Giudice also complained he would never have been charged with fraud in the Bahamas or Italy – and claimed murderers get treated better than fraudsters in the US.
The dad-of-three continued: 'I mean, my charges don't even exist here. You know, tax things don't exist in The Bahamas.
'Tax things don't exist in, in Italy. You know what I mean, you know, you, you just don't go to jail for that stuff. You know what I mean, you get a fine, you get whatever.
'But, I mean, you don't go to jail. You don't break your you know, they don't break families up in, you know, like they do over there.
'I mean, they throw people behind bars there for years for that stuff. You know what I mean? And it's ridiculous, you know what I mean? A fine, you know, a slap on a wrist, six months.
'You know, anything you do as a first offense should be more than a fine, not 15-years, or whatever the hell they give by, you know, for certain things like this, which I've seen them all in there.
'You know what I mean? Who had 20 years. Who had 30 years. For tax things? You know what I mean? I'm not talking about, you kill somebody.
'Murderers get out before people like do tax frauds in the states. You know what I mean? First time, you should get a slap on a wrist, a fine. All right, take the money away, do whatever you gotta do.
'But, you know, to break up a family and, you know, destroy their lives over one mistake. I don't think it's fair.'
Despite being furious over his jail sentence and deportation, Giudice said - as he did on Thursday - he hopes to overturn his deportation order and return to the US to be closer to his daughters: Gia, Milania, Audriana and Gabriella.
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