"Real Housewives" star Teresa Giudice released from prison

"Real Housewives of New Jersey" star released from prison

DANBURY, Conn. -- One of New Jersey's "Real Housewives" was freed Wednesday after serving nearly a year in prison for bankruptcy fraud.

A lawyer for Teresa Giudice said she was freed at about 5 a.m. from the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut.

She then traveled home to Montville, New Jersey, and will be on home confinement until Feb. 5, attorney James Leonard said, although she is expected to spend Christmas Eve at her brother's home.

She was seen arriving home in a black SUV later in the morning, according to ABC News.

Giudice was sent to prison to serve a 15-month sentence in January. She earned early release with good behavior. Earlier this year, Radar reported that Giudice was unhappy about the food in prison and a ban on hair extensions. Her prison was the same Danbury, Connecticut, facility that inspired "Orange Is the New Black."

She and her husband, Joe Giudice, pleaded guilty last year to bankruptcy fraud. They admitted hiding assets from bankruptcy creditors and submitting phony loan applications to get about $5 million in mortgages and construction loans.

In 2014 Giudice told "Watch What Happens Live" host Andy Cohen, "I mean, of course, I was shocked [at the sentencing]. You know, it was very unexpected. I don't even know what to say. I really don't know what to say."

Joe Giudice is expected to start his own 3 1/2 -year prison sentence in March. A federal judge staggered the couple's sentences in deference to their daughters.

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