Ralph and Karen Guastaferro plead guilty (Video)

Ralph and Karen Guastaferro pled guilty to money laundering charges in a New York court; the couple drew national attention when they appeared on Wipe Swap in 2008.

Ralph, 62 and Karen Guastaferro, 55 were charged with laundering $1.2 million from a Canadian telemarketing scheme business. Ralph faces up to 5 years in prison, and Karen faces up to 16 months. A date for sentencing has not been set. On Wife Swap, they were portrayed as a couple who pampered their daughter, Alicia. They liked to give her a present per day, and one included a new Chevy Tahoe even Alicia she was old enough to drive. Karen was swapped with another wife from a religious home in Indiana. The nation was fascinated with the lavish lifestyle of the Guastaferro’s and that Alicia Guastaferro was a preschool beauty queen. See Wife Swap video below.


Ralph and Karen Guastaferro had different perception when they came on the reality show “wife Swap”. People had the simplistic view towards the couple and thought that they had known the family from all dimensions. The rich couple had gifted a Chevrolet to their pampered daughter. But there is a hidden dimension of the couple which has been disclosed to people. Guastaferros are facing money laundering case in the federal court. Ralph has confessed that he laundered $1.2 million in a Canadian telemarketing scheme. On the other hand, her wife evaded tax by paying the workers of their glass tinting shop “off the record” wages. She evaded $56,670 tax in this context. The court has found them guilty of money laundering crimes. Now what punishment they will receive is still to be decided by the court. As both have confessed the crime, their jail sentence may range from 46 to 57 months but the court has stated that it has the discretion to give any sentence as it deems fit in the interest of justice.

The court may inflict lesser punishment ranging from 27 to 33 months if Ralph Guastaferro helps the law in telemarketing investigation. A U.S. District Judge, William M. Skretny, will announce the sentence. The Guastaferro family became a national focal point when they participated in “Wife Swap”. Their lavish life-style became an inspiration for the viewers. The program was also being seen on the YouTube. But it is not that lavish display on the national level that was spotted by the investigators because they were already after him. Teams of FBI and Internal Revenue Service raided Guastaferros’ home many times.