‘Dance Moms’ Abby Lee Miller Faces Jail With New Final Sentencing Date In Fraud Case
EXCLUSIVE: With the feds pushing for Abby Lee Miller to get 2 ½ years behind bars for fraud, the Dance Moms host today learned she will have just under two-weeks more of assured freedom.
Two days after Miller’s final sentencing hearing of February 24 was suddenly yanked off the court calendar at the request of the government, a federal judge in Pittsburgh this morning set March 8 as the new date on which the high volume host could learn if her fate is prison or probation. If Miller’s attorneys need more time to argue their side of the story for their guilty pleading client or further deliberations are required, a further hearing is also penciled for March 9 at 10 AM, “if necessary,” wrote Chief Judge Joy Flowers Conti.
While undoubtedly anxious about the outcome , Miller will at least be tanned and likely somewhat rested for the early March sessions. Rejecting her own previous vow that any travel requests by Miller had to be submitted at least two-weeks before any hearing, Conti today approved the Dance Moms host to go to Merida and Cancun, Mexico “for business opportunities” from March 2 – 7.
In what seems an almost irrelevant gesture, Conti noted in her order that “no further travel will be authorized before the sentencing.”
As her recent social media correspondence displays, Miller just got back from a court approved trip to the UK and the Mexico trip may be also related to her dance Masterclass venture.
Cheers! This trip to London was amazing & Newcastle fab too! Thanks to all who made this trip… https://t.co/uGA34D4DzN
— Abby Lee Miller (@Abby_Lee_Miller) February 22, 2017
Sources tell Deadline that the latest jaunt definitely has nothing to do with filming for a future season of the successful Collins Avenue produced Lifetime series. Dance Moms wrapped up its seventh season earlier this week and, while not officially confirmed, word is some filming for Season 8 has already occurred as an insurance against Miller getting possible jail time.
With Miller returning Stateside the day before the new session in the Pennsylvania city, Chief Judge Conti is expected to announce a sentence for the defendant at the much delayed and now on again final hearing in the nearly year and a half long case. The U.S. Attorney indicted Miller on 20 counts of fraud back in October 2015. Then, as that matter dragged on and the Dance Moms host fought back, the feds last June threw in a new charge of Miller violating currency reporting laws. Facing a pile up of charges and evidence and seeking a deal that has seemingly now evaporated, Miller entered a guilty plea on June 27, 2016.
In the first sentencing hearing on January 20, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Melucci rejected Miller’s assertions that the $755,000 in Dance Moms money from Collins Avenue that she hide from her then on-going bankruptcy case was mainly because she was overwhelmed by the success of the show. Pushing the Judge for jail time over Team Miller’s desire for probation for the first time offender, Melucci scathingly asserted last month that the host “intended to cause harm” to her creditors by deliberately misrepresenting income on said bankruptcy filings back in 2012.
What Miller’s lawyers Robert Ridge and Brandon Verdream have to say to that we will see next month – maybe. The maybe being if there is another delay or postponement in a case that has been riddled with them
Related stories
'Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller Gets 11th-Hour Reprieve In Fraud Case Sentencing
Lifetime's Menendez Brothers Movie Rounds Out Lead Cast
Meghan Hooper White Upped To SVP Original Co-Productions & Acquisitions Lifetime & LMN
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
