Parma Loses More Points for Not Making Payments

03/13/15
In this March 8 file photo, a man stands outside the Tardini stadium as a note behind him reads in Italian “Chiuso per rapina” (Closed after robbery) prior to a Serie A soccer match between Parma and Atalanta in Parma, Italy.
Marco Vasini/Associated Press

This week on The Broke and the Beautiful, Parma lost more points for not paying wages, and “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Joe Giudice is taking care of his kids while wife Teresa is in prison.

Italian soccer team Parma has been in such financial stress recently that its ability to continue has been threatened. The Associated Press last week reported that Italy’s top soccer teams voted to give Parma €5 million ($5.24 million) in emergency money to help it finish the season. But now, according to ESPN FC, the team got docked two points for not being able to make payments last July, August and September. (For anyone who’s counting, the team is down to 9 points and is in last place in Serie A.) The team may also suffer a point deduction for not making payment in October through December, and payments from January through March are outstanding. A bankruptcy hearing is set for next Thursday, at which the team will try to argue that it has the means to finish the season, according to ESPN FC.

Andrea Agnelli, the president of the Juventus team and great-grandson of Giovanni Agnelli, who founded Fiat, is concerned about Parma’s fate. ESPN FC also reported that Andrea Angelli told Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper he wondered how Parma could get a license to play in Serie A if authorities knew the team didn’t have enough money to play. “This case is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice and his wife, Teresa Giudice, head to court in October 2014.
Julio Cortez/Associated Press

“Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Terea Giudice is serving out her 15-month prison sentence, and fellow “RHONJ” star Melissa Gorga wants people to know the Giudices’ children are in good hands with father Joe. Ms. Gorga, the sister-in law of Teresa Giudice, told Bravo (h/t International Business Times) that seeing Joe Giudice taking care of the kids is “heartwarming.“ He is “manning up and doing what he has to do,” she noted. Ms. Gorga also said Ms. Giudice is “doing well.”

Ms. Giudice reported to prison earlier this year for committing bankruptcy fraud and mail and wire fraud conspiracy. She and her husband are serving their prison sentences separately so that one parent can be home with the couple’s four daughters.

Write to Melanie Cohen at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @MelanieLisa

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