Abby Lee Miller pleaded guilty to concealing bankruptcy assets and failure to report thousands of Australian currency, which she brought home to the United States. The 49-year-old "Dance Mom" star is facing serious jail time for the said crimes.
For pleading guilty to 20 counts of fraud, she can be imprisoned for two to two and a half years. In 2015, she was accused and charged for trying to hide $775,000 financial gain from her Lifetime Network reality TV shows, when she filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2010.
A few months after her conviction, Miller was involved in another case in which she was accused of carrying over $10,000 Australian dollars to the U.S. in August 2014, without declaring it to proper authorities. The new case threatened the TV reality star with up to five years imprisonment time, in addition to $250,000 in fine, ABC News reported.
In her guilty plea, Miller acknowledged hiding at least $750,000 while her bankruptcy case was being processed. The "Dance Mom" coach also confessed to stashing money in her suitcase and made sure it will not be detected when she return to U.S. from Australia. She added that, along with her companions, they stuffed money amounting to $120,000 into separate Ziploc bags and hid them in their luggage.
Miller is set to be sentenced on October 11 and she is currently free on $10,000 bond. The star's lawyer, Robert Ridge, will try to appeal for shorter imprisonment term of just six months at the most.
"Throughout this case, Miss Miller has taken both the allegations and the proceedings very seriously. This has been a challenging time for Miss Miller. She appreciates the words of encouragement and support from around the world," Deadline quoted Ridge as saying in a statement.
The investigation of Miller's case started when a bankruptcy judge accidentally saw the star on TV in 2012. He reckoned that she could be earning more than $8,899 per month, the amount she stated in her bankruptcy claim.
The investigators calculated that she concealed over $228,000 earnings from her "Dance Moms" and "Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition" appearance fees. They added that profits from merchandise and dance lessons amounting to at least $550,000 were not declared in her Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection case as well.
See the report on Miller's money laundering and bankruptcy fraud case below: