Joe Gorga claims Luis Ruelas ‘screwed’ him in bad $250K business deal
Now Joe Gorga is turning the tables.
In last week’s preview for “The Real Housewives of New Jersey,” fans saw Teresa Giudice claim that her brother caused her now-husband, Luis “Louie” Ruelas, to lose $250,000.
However, fans saw the entire feud unfold in this Tuesday’s episode, with each sibling providing their versions of events about the business deal gone wrong.
“I don’t wanna bury my sister, but if she’s talking about it, I can’t lie,” Gorga said in a confessional before diving into how he feels Ruelas was to blame.
“I told [Ruelas], ‘It’s my idea, it’s me and my sister, and we’ll honor my father. We’ll call it Nonno’s Pizza.’ He loved it,” he explained of his pizza oven concept that would honor his and Giudice’s late father, Giacinto Gorga, who died in April 2020.
“[Ruelas] screwed me in a second,” Joe told Jackie Goldschneider and Margaret Josephs, as well as their husbands, during a group breakfast.
In another confessional, Joe explained that he got his nephew involved and had him order the ovens.
“Louie puts the money in … I’m figuring I’m giving 50 percent to my sister, he was getting 50 percent,” he explained.
“And then my nephew comes over to my house and goes, ‘Did you see the boxes were ordered?’ I go, ‘What boxes?’ He goes, ‘Your sister had a photo shoot with her and the girls, and they called it Skinny Pizza or something like that.'”
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Joe, 48, said he immediately called Ruelas, 47, who turned around and allegedly gave him “some lip.”
“My sister, out of nowhere, goes, ‘Did you put the f–king money up?’ I go, ‘What? You think I couldn’t put $200,000 up?’ I go, ‘It was my f–king idea!'” he recalled.
“It got very ugly,” Joe added as his wife, Melissa Gorga, began to cry.
“My sister was saying, ‘This is why you don’t do business with family!’ Bulls–t. You can do business with anyone if you go in with the trust and you’re not looking to cheat somebody.”
Giudice, however, gave a very different version of events in which her new husband was the victim.
The convicted felon, 50, claimed her brother wanted to receive 50 percent of the profits despite Ruelas putting out “all the money.”
Ultimately, the pizza oven idea cooled off, with Giudice claiming Ruelas, whom she married in August 2022, “took the loss.”
“My fiancé lost a quarter of a million dollars,” Teresa explained to Danielle Cabral and her husband, Nate Cabral, as well as Jennifer Aydin and Bill Aydin.
“The Real Housewives of New Jersey” airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on Bravo.
