"Real Housewives of New Jersey" star Teresa Giudice has paid off or is in the process of paying off the vast bulk of her creditors, her lawyers told a federal judge yesterday in an attempt to block the reopening of the bankruptcy case that helped land her in prison for a year for fraud, NJ.com reported. But Bankruptcy Judge Stacey L. Meisel ruled against Giudice and reopened the proceedings. Judge Meisel's decision may allow the reality star's unsatisfied creditors to collect potential proceeds from a lawsuit she filed against her bankruptcy attorney James Kridel. Giudice was not at the hearing. Giudice's lawyer Carlos Cuevas told Judge Meisel that Giudice now has a payment plan in place with the Internal Revenue Service, which filed a $551,563 tax lien against her last year, and that she has paid or has agreements to pay 27 of the 29 creditors listed in her 2009 bankruptcy filing. Judge Meisel's ruling did not address whether or not her creditors are entitled to all or any portion of an award should Giudice win the malpractice case.
The FBI arrested eight people on Tuesday, charging them with allegedly concealing more than $3 million in assets from federal bankruptcy court in Miami, the Miami Herald reported yesterday. The five cases allege the eight people hid assets or illegally transferred them out of their name before filing chapter 7 bankruptcies. In so doing, the indictment alleges, they shielded assets from creditors and avoided repaying outstanding debts. According to allegations in the indictment, Yechezkel and Tamar Nissenbaum are among those indicted as they liquidated a certificate of deposit worth approximately $141,829 in 2010, and then filed a joint petition for chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2011. When asked about the accuracy of her disclosures in the bankruptcy petition, Yachezkel Nissenbaum “made false representations,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.