Gotham/GC Images
Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Teresa Giudice and Husband Luis Ruelas Owe $3 Million in Taxes
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and Luis Ruelas owe millions of dollars in taxes, In Touch can confirm.
The Bravolebrity, 52, and the businessman, 49, were issued more than $3 million in tax debts, according to online records viewed by In Touch on Tuesday, March 25. Teresa owes $303,889.20, while Luis owes $2,569,842.06.
Luis previously received a tax debt for $163,523.94 in December 2024. Both of these debts and Teresa’s debt are still open cases in New Jersey, according to the records.
Teresa is no stranger to dealing with debt. The reality star and her first husband, Joe Giudice, filed for bankruptcy in 2009, claiming that they owed creditors more than $10 million. However, the former spouses allegedly conspired to defraud lenders to illegally obtain mortgages. In 2013, Teresa and Joe, 52, were indicted on 39 counts, including bankruptcy fraud, mail and wire fraud and bank fraud.
Teresa served 11 months out of a 15-month sentence for mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. She was released in December 2015.
“I wish I could do everything differently,” the Standing Strong author told Us Weekly in October 2014. “But then again, maybe not, because this is a life lesson that I need to learn and will learn, and will teach my children for the rest of my life, just as Judge Salas told me she expected me to do.”
Later, in 2022, Teresa said she believed the courts “made an example” out of her by sending her to prison.
“I know in my heart I was not supposed to go there. I know I only went because I’m in the public eye,” she admitted. “Listen, I’ll shout it out to the world. I signed two contracts that Joe was flipping [for] two homes he was buying. That’s all I did. I knew nothing about what he was doing. I mean, I have nothing to hide. Like, I did my time already, you know?”
Teresa and Joe’s bankruptcy case was dismissed in 2018, but they were ordered to pay restitution to the IRS and New Jersey’s department of treasury.
Meanwhile, Joe served 41 months in prison for bankruptcy fraud from March 2016 to March 2019. He was deported to his native Italy following his release but later moved to the Bahamas in 2021.
Teresa and Joe — who share daughters Gia, 23, Gabriella, 20, Milania, 19, and Audriana, 15 — announced their split in December 2019 after 20 years of marriage. Their divorce was later finalized in September 2020.
The TV personality moved on with Luis in July 2020 after meeting him on vacation on the Jersey Shore. The two got engaged in 2021 and tied the knot in August 2022.
Before she married Luis, Teresa told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live that they were not planning on signing a prenuptial agreement.
“I mean, I would [sign a prenup], you know, if he said so. I’m so very easy about that,” she explained. “He definitely has more than me. I would never take anything from him, I’m so not like that.”
Throughout her romance with Luis, Teresa hasn’t shied away from defending her relationship from critics, including her RHONJ costars. Back in May 2024, she fired back at castmate Margaret Josephs’ claim that Luis had “pissed [Teresa’s] money away.”
“Bitch, you don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Teresa said of the claim during an appearance on Tori Spelling’s “misSPELLING” podcast. “She’s not even in my house. She’s putting out this false narrative out there.”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. In Touch Weekly does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.