‘Real Housewives of New Jersey’: Joe Giudice sentenced to 41 months in prison

The sentencing is coming out today for Joe and Teresa Giudice of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” and we knew that the penalties were most likely going to be harsh.

Already, that is proving to be true. While we are still awaiting sentencing for his wife (we’ll have updates here on that soon), Joe has been officially sentenced to 41 months for bankruptcy fraud, and also must pay $414,588.90 in restitution. Not only that, but he has been ordered to undergo alcohol treatment while behind bars.

While we are still waiting on Teresa’s fate, the judge has already made it clear that if she is sentenced to jail time, the sentences will be staggered out in a way that one of the parents will be able to care for the couple’s four daughters while the other is serving time. We don’t expect her to get anywhere near the same amount of time behind bars as her husband, but she is not going to get out of this without any punishment, either.

This case in particular has been a hot-button issue thanks largely to the sheer amount of attention the two have received. This has been a storyline on “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” all season long, though the series will probably not come up to this point. Interestingly, Bravo has made it fairly clear that they have no intention of abandoning Teresa despite what she is going through right now, and they will likely find a way to still feature her in future seasons.

What do you think about the sentencing: Was it fair, too harsh, too lenient? Let us know one way or the other in the comments.