Feds reportedly raid Teresa Giudice’s home, seize Christmas presents

Teresa Giudice’s plans for one last extravagant Christmas together were reportedly foiled this week when federal officials raided her home and seized property, including gifts for her daughters.

“Teresa was home and was absolutely stunned by the raid,” an insider told Radar Online. “She had no clue they were coming. She was absolutely hysterical, and begging them not to take the girls’ Christmas presents.”

All About the Tea, the first to report the story, quoted another source who said the girls arrived home from school in the midst of incident and Teresa told them the feds “are here to help mommy and daddy get ready for the garage sale.”

The agents were reportedly surprised to find “a large amount of cash” stowed away in the wine cellar. They also took the Real Housewives of New Jersey star’s plasma televisions, expensive jewelry (everything except her wedding ring) and the gifts. They allegedly didn’t have much choice in the matter because Teresa and Joe Giucide failed to set up a plan to pay back their outstanding $214,000 in restitution. (Besides suing her bankruptcy lawyer for $5 million.)

“The property will now be auctioned off with the money going into a trust account. If there is any money left over, it would go to paying creditors in their bankruptcy, in which they owe $14.3 million,” said the insider. “This all could have been avoided if Teresa had simply submitted a proposed plan to pay off the restitution. Yet, Teresa chose to once again thumb her nose at the law, and was ignoring it… She is absolutely devastated that there won’t be any Christmas presents for their girls.”

UPDATE Teresa’s new lawyer, James T. Leonard, told NJ.com the story is “a complete fabrication” and that the family is “complying 100 percent” to pay their restitution. He added, “Santa Claus coming down the chimney is more believable than the raid story.”