The streaming world is buzzing this week with exciting new releases across platforms. Netflix features the crime thriller 'The Rip' starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, while Hulu premieres the acclaimed indie film 'Twinless' and the reality show spin-off 'Fear Factor: House of Fear.' Amazon Prime drops season 2 of the tense drama 'The Night Manager,' starring Tom Hiddleston. Over on Apple TV, Idris Elba returns in season 2 of the suspenseful series 'Hijack.'
00:00Why have there been so many real housewives or their husbands charged by the feds with financial crimes?
00:07I mean, have you thought about it? It's really weird.
00:10There are two more cases.
00:12You're going to hear from a man who knows the federal system from the inside out.
00:17He has a theory about why this happens.
00:20This is Uncovered.
00:30Real housewives of Potomac stars, Wendy Acefo and her husband, Eddie, are being charged by the feds with essentially insurance fraud.
00:40They say back in 2024, someone broke into their house while they were on vacation and stole a whole bunch of luxury items.
00:47The problem is, investigators say they found that the couple had actually returned some of these allegedly stolen items to a store a few days later.
00:58However, Wendy Acefo had also said that her wedding ring had been stolen and insurance had given her a whole bunch of money to make up for that loss.
01:07Well, investigators say they went on social media and they found pictures of Wendy Acefo wearing her wedding ring.
01:14The two of them are now facing serious financial crime charges by the feds.
01:20Their attorneys have fired back saying, wait a second, that first burglary, the police did not investigate that properly.
01:27And they believe they dealt with the investigation unfairly, almost like they were trying to target the Acefos.
01:34The attorneys say over the last 18 months, the Acefos have been cooperating with police.
01:39They've been waiting to hear for updates about the burglary.
01:43And then out of the blue, they're being charged with financial crimes.
01:48Here to help us sort through this is Joseph Di Gregorio.
01:51He's a federal sentencing strategist.
01:54Essentially, what that means is he helps people navigate when they're being prosecuted by the feds.
02:01So, Joseph, a statement from the Acefo's attorneys say that they're going to go to trial, that they believe strongly enough in their innocence here.
02:10If you were their attorney, what would you tell them?
02:13Path one is the plea deal.
02:15Her attorneys will likely be pushing hard for this.
02:18She could plead guilty to reduce charges, agree to pay restitution, potentially face 24 to 36 months, two, three years instead of 15.
02:26The federal government wins 95% of cases that go to trial.
02:30So her attorneys know the odds.
02:32And path two is trial.
02:34If she believes she's 100% innocent or wants to fight, we're looking at trial in early to mid-2026, followed by sentencing if convicted.
02:43But here's what most people don't understand.
02:46When you go to trial and lose, judges often give you more time that if you take in the plea deal, it's called trial penalty.
02:54And it's completely legal.
02:55My prediction is she's going to take a plea deal within the next three to six months.
02:59The pressure of living in this uncertainty with three young children watching her husband also face charges, it's unsustainable.
03:07And federal prosecutors know exactly how to exploit that pressure.
03:10Yeah, we'll have to see because prosecutors are also charging the couple with using aliases to allegedly commit some of these financial crimes.
03:20The attorneys for the SFO say these weren't aliases.
03:24These are names that the couple used for packages.
03:27They bought things legally.
03:29They put fake names on the packages because they're high-profile people and they wanted to protect their identities.
03:36So it's not an alias.
03:38But this isn't the first time that a real housewife or her husband has been charged by the feds.
03:45And, Joe, I can't take credit for this.
03:47You pointed this out to me.
03:49And I can tell you exactly why it keeps happening.
03:52There's four systemic reasons.
03:55First is the performance trap.
03:57These women get paid maybe $100,000 to $200,000 per season, but they have to look like they're making millions.
04:05Every scene requires a designer everything.
04:09And the pressure to maintain that illusion on a salary that can't afford it, that's where fraud begins.
04:15And second is the public evidence problem.
04:18Wendy Osefo handed federal prosecutors their case on a silver platter.
04:23She's wearing the stolen jewelry on Instagram.
04:25Teresa from New Jersey was flaunting assets on Bravo while claiming bankruptcy in court.
04:32The FBI doesn't need wiretaps anymore.
04:35They just need a DVR and a social media account.
04:37And third is third is the invincibility complex.
04:41Fame makes people reckless.
04:43Jen Shah literally ran from federal agents on camera while filming Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.
04:51She spent two years claiming innocence, then abruptly pleaded guilty when she realized the evidence was overwhelming.
04:59They start believing they're untouchable because they're on TV, but federal prosecutors don't care about their ratings.
05:07And fourth, and this is the real tragedy, is the family devastation.
05:12Jen Shah has two sons, six and a half years she received.
05:17And Wendy has three children and could lose both parents because her husband is also charged.
05:23You can't defraud people at hundreds of thousands of dollars and then say,
05:27but I'm a mom and expect that to erase the crime.
05:31Judges see right through that immediately.
05:34Right.
05:34As you said, it's not just the women here.
05:36The husbands have also been charged by the feds.
05:39So in this case, we have Eddie Acefo.
05:42There's also Teresa Giudice's ex-husband, Joe Giudice.
05:46He was also found guilty of financial crimes by the feds.
05:50And he got actually twice as much prison time as his wife.
05:54They're divorced now.
05:56Thomas Girardi was formerly married to Erica Jane of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
06:01He was found guilty of wire fraud and embezzling client funds.
06:06He was sentenced to 87 months in prison.
06:10And the pattern is going to keep repeating until cast members understand that federal prosecutors don't care that you're on Bravo.
06:17Your TV contract won't protect you from a federal indictment.
06:21Thank you, Joseph, for helping us sort through some of this.
06:25The Acefos say they did not commit insurance fraud.
06:29I want to take a moment to talk about why insurance fraud hurts everybody and why the feds take it so seriously.
06:37When someone commits insurance fraud and they get money from their insurance that they don't actually need or are owed,
06:45it means everybody else has to pay for their premiums to go up.
06:50So when someone commits insurance fraud, they are actually hurting all of us, everybody who pays into that policy.
07:00One of the biggest things that is causing insurance to go up for everybody is insurance fraud.
07:05It is rampant right now across every aspect of life that you can think of.
07:11And that's why the feds take these types of cases so seriously.
07:16If you want more true crime stories with depth, accountability and impact,
07:22subscribe to Us Weekly's YouTube channel or check out Uncovered with KristenThorne.com.
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