#RHONJ Jim Marchese Scores $8.5 Million in Bank of America Whistleblower Payout!
Jim Marchese, along with wife Amber, busted onto the reality TV scene during last season’s installment of “The Real Housewives of New Jersey.” Jim successfully upstaged the prison bound Giudice headliners, and finished the season as the most polarizing and talked about character of the season.
READ: PHOTOS: Amber & Jim Marchese Enjoy Family Night Out In NYC
Off camera, he is considered a serial whistleblower, and has a penchant for taking fraudsters to court, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
READ: Jim Marchese Says Teresa Giudice Should Not Return To The #RHONJ After Prison
Jim owns a local New Jersey mortgage firm, called ‘Mortgage Now’ and last year helped the Justice Department win a $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America. In the legal battle against Bank of America, the bank was accused of bad mortgage investments that led to the financial crisis. Marchese reportedly pocketed a cool $8.5 million for tipping off the government, but asserts that the money is not his motivation.
“I’m trained as an attorney, I’m Sicilian, and I’m from New Jersey,” Marchese told the Journal, “If I see you kick a puppy, I’m going to say something. It’s not within me to not say something.”
Marchese also blew the whistle on his former employer in 2007, a pharmaceutical firm that defrauded Medicare. According to the Journal, Marchese scored $1.6 million for his tipster efforts.
READ: Jim and Amber Marchese School Twitter On Teresa Giudice: Her Prison Sentence Is Not A Tragedy!
Bravo viewer opinion varies widely when Jim Marchese’s name is bantered about, but most would agree that “saying something” is definitely his strong suit. There has been no word yet on the possible return of the Marchese couple to Bravo reality show, but Jim Marchese makes an impact on or off camera.
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Becca is a Senior Editor for All About The Tea. She’s a coastal girl who loves the outdoors, and writing about the sneaky and silly side of reality TV. Her bio is short, but her snark is endless. She loves writing for the sharpest posters in the world.