'The Real Housewives of New Jersey' Star Teresa Giudice's Husband Joe Giudice's Trial Begins Nov. 19 Ahead Season 6 Filming (VIDEO)
Teresa Giudice's husband Joe Giudice will begin trial for his fraud charges on Nov. 19.
Joe learned during an Oct. 28 New Jersey courtroom hearing that he will faces charges for illegally obtaining a driver's license with his brother's name. Joe committed fraud and forged his brother's signature after he was arrested for a DUI in March 2011.
He faces up to 10 years for fraud and 18 months for forgery, according to NJ.com. He also faces deportation if convicted because he was born in Italy and never applied for U.S. citizenship.
He attended the hearing that had been postponed twice because his attorney, Miles Feinstein, was working on a Sussex County murder case that had been extended. Feinstein said his client declined several plea deals offered by prosecutors because he believes his celebrity is affecting his case.
"They wanted him to serve substantially more prison time than other alleged offenders, and claimed his celebrity played a role in the decision to go after his client," Feinstein told the newspaper.
Because Feinstein also represents Teresa, the trial for the couple's 39-indictment case for various financial offenses has been pushed back to February 2014.
TMZ reported on July 29 that the couple was hit with a whopping 39 charges for a wide range of offenses, such as failure to report income to the IRS and bank fraud. The Giudices each face a maximum of 20 years in jail for bank fraud and up to 30 years each for the alleged bank schemes, according to the report. The couple has not been arrested but they are due in a New Jersey court on Tuesday, July 30.
The couple told Andy Cohen in a September interview on Watch What Happens Live that they believe they are innocent of the 39 charges. Joe told Cohen that he also believes that being a reality star "absolutely" played a role in the state's decision to prosecute the couple.
"If I wasn't on the show, nobody would care," he said.
Joe also claimed that he wasn't under the influence of alcohol when he was arrested for DUI in 2011.
"The times that I should have been charged, I wasn't," he said. "The one time I really wasn't drunk, I got charged."
In October 2009 the couple filed for bankruptcy, according to People. The news came as a shock to many fans because Teresa and Joe displayed a lavish lifestyle during the first season of TRHONJ.
Teresa Giudice & Joe Giudice Talk Indictment & Jail on 'Watch What Happens Live' Special (VIDEO)
