'Real Housewives of New Jersey' star Joe Giudice faces deportation after prison release
NEW JERSEY (WABC) -- A reality TV star out is of prison Thursday, but he will not be heading home to New Jersey.
"Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Joe Giudice was transferred directly to an immigration detention center and will be facing deportation to Italy.
The transfer happened in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Giudice, the husband of Teresa Giudice, had been serving a 41-month prison sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud.
He moved from Italy to the U.S. as a child and is a legal permanent resident, but he never became a U.S. citizen.
Giudice has said through his attorneys that he wasn't aware he wasn't an American citizen.
Giudice and wife Teresa pleaded guilty in 2014 to bankruptcy fraud and submitting false loan applications to get $5 million in mortgages and construction loans. Joe Giudice also pleaded guilty to not paying about $200,000 in income taxes.
Teresa Giudice served nearly a year in prison and was freed in December 2015. Under a sentencing agreement that allowed for continuous care of the couple's four young children, Joe Giudice began serving his 41-month sentence in March 2016.
Joe Giudice's federal sentence ran concurrent with an 18-month state sentence for unlawful use of an ID and impersonation, stemming from his 2014 guilty plea in an unrelated case. He was charged with using his brother's identity to obtain a driver's license while his own license was suspended for driving while intoxicated in 2010.
He will have a hearing to appeal his deportation order at a later date.
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