While the possibility that both Real Housewives of New Jersey stars Teresa Giudice and Joe Giudice could be in jail for fraud in the near future, it still doesn't seem like the two are taking the prospect that seriously — even though they've already been indicted on 39 counts of fraud. In an appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live , both Teresa and Joe spoke out about the fraud charges, which allege that they exaggerated their income, hid their wealth in a bankruptcy filing, and submitted fake tax returns. For the record, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the two face "hundreds" of years in prison, as well as millions of dollars in fines.
The couple, who pled not guilty to the charges, seem to be sticking to their story that they did nothing wrong. In Joe's words, the family never lived "beyond their means," and had the money for everything they bought: "Whatever I could afford to buy, I would buy... we work hard, so what. We are allowed to make money. It's part of what we do. I'm a businessman and I make money," he said.
Teresa, on the other hand, talked about her own personal struggle about the allegations, and whether or not she'd be returning to the Real Housewives of New Jersey come next season (RHONJ x Orange Is the New Black?).
"I am not crawling under a rock and hiding. That's not me," she proclaimed. "I am still going to be the person who I am today and the day I go to court, when we resolve this, everyone will see who Joe and I really are." She added that she wants to return to the next season of RHONJ, but only if the other women respect that she can't talk about her legal issues on the series.
You can check out two clips of their interview below. Weird — for two people facing hundreds of years in prison, they look pretty composed.
On returning to RHONJ:
On where the kids might go:
