“Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice agreed last month to split a potential legal windfall with her creditors, but now the bankruptcy attorney whom she is suing is opposing the proposed settlement, NJ.com reported on Wednesday. Giudice filed suit against her former bankruptcy attorney James Kridel last year for legal malpractice, claiming that the Clifton lawyer's bad advice and mistakes led to her conviction for bankruptcy fraud. Giudice, who lives in Montville Township, N.J., served nearly a year in prison after taking a plea deal for bankruptcy fraud and conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, the latter pertaining to a mortgage scheme that predated the bankruptcy. Her husband Joe is currently serving a 41-month sentence. After she filed suit, however, John Sywilok, the trustee who represented her creditors in the bankruptcy case, successfully reopened the bankruptcy, after claiming that any money the couple won in the Kridel case should go to their creditors. After a contentious mediation, Giudice's lawyers Anthony Rainone and Carlos Cuevas eventually settled with the trustee John Sywilok, agreeing that her creditors will get 45 percent of any winnings, and that Sywilock will join Giudice's malpractice case as a plaintiff. On Tuesday, Kridel's lawyer Carl Perri filed a motion in federal bankruptcy court objecting to the settlement on the grounds that Rainone and Cuevas have a conflict of interest with Sywilok and his attorney. Read more.
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