'Wife Swap' couple plead guilty in money laundering case

Posted November 17, 2009 10:00 pm

Associated Press

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A New York couple whose lavish lifestyle was featured on an episode of the ABC reality show "Wife Swap" have pleaded guilty to federal charges in Buffalo of hiding money from the government.

Sixty-two-year-old Ralph Guastaferro faces up to nearly five years in prison for laundering $1.2 million for a Canadian telemarketing scheme through two business checking accounts he opened. His 55-year-old wife Karen could be sentenced to as many as 16 months for paying employees of the couple's glass-tinting business off the books.

Authorities were apparently investigating the Amherst, N.Y., couple before they appeared in 2008 on "Wife Swap." The show featured them giving their daughter presents every day. The couple's lawyers say the family is now suffering financially.

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