Donald Trump’s recent pardoning spree including jailed reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley has led to another controversial small-screen identity hitting up the president for a favor.
Joe Giudice, who appeared on The Real Housewives of New Jersey alongside ex-wife Teresa, was jailed in 2014 after being convicted of multiple counts of bankruptcy fraud and one count of tax evasion.
Following his release in 2019, Giudice was deported to his native Italy, due to never getting U.S. citizenship despite living in the country since he was a child. He has been living in the Bahamas since 2021, examining legal options to allow him to visit his family in the U.S. again.
On Thursday, he took to Instagram to plead his case to the president. The 53-year-old wrote, “I’m Joe Giudice. I served my time, and I’ve been deported from the U.S. for nearly a decade. 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 added the hashtag #trump2024 and tagged Donald Trump Jr. His ex-wife Teresa, who also did jail time, added a love heart and prayer hands emojis to the social media plea.
Speaking with his ex-wife on her podcast Turning the Tables With Teresa Giudice in January, Joe said he had exhausted legal channels to be able to return to America again.
“I got a lawyer working on something, but she’s been working on it and hasn’t done anything yet, so, I don’t know, we’ll see,” he explained.
“I mean, I did get in front of the embassy and they denied me… and that was it. I paid a bunch of money for that, so… I went, and it took not even five minutes and they denied it, so I’m done with this crap. It is what it is.”
Joe was sentenced to 41 months in prison, Teresa to 15 months. At the time ,the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey 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. When they pleaded guilty, both admitted swearing to statements they knew were lies. Prison is the appropriate penalty for these serious financial crimes.”
Speaking to the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast in 2023, Giudice claimed he was treated unfairly by the U.S when deported to Italy after leaving jail.
“I got thrown into a country that I knew nothing about,” he said. “Basically, just dumped there like, I guess a dog. Not even a dog gets dumped like that.”
He continued, “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 U.S.
“The U.S 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.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
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