Dance Moms' Abby Lee Miller Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison

The dance instructor has officially learned her fate

By Samantha Schnurr May 09, 2017 4:23 PMTags

Two years after her indictment, Abby Lee Miller has officially learned her legal fate. 

The reality star, who rose to fame on the Lifetime series Dance Moms, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison followed by two years of supervised release on Tuesday, according to several reporters in the court room. She was also reportedly fined $40,000 and ordered to pay a $120,000 judgment. She has 45 days to report to prison. 

"It's a very serious situation when someone who files for bankruptcy isn't truthful with the court," Judge Joy Flowers Conti told the reality star in court. 

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Darrell Sapp/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via AP

The 50-year-old dance instructor was initially indicted in 2015 on 20 charges of bankruptcy fraud, concealment of bankruptcy assets and false bankruptcy declarations after the FBI, IRS and postal inspectors conducted an investigation. She allegedly hid more than $755,000 in other bank accounts, income reportedly stemming from appearances on the show in 2012 and 2013. 

Lee Miller initially filed for bankruptcy in 2010. In the reorganization plan she submitted to the court, the reality star did not indicate she had a contract for the show, according to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette. It reportedly was not until Judge Thomas Agresti spotted the choreographer on television that he canceled a hearing to discharge her bankruptcy case and requested she disclose any contracts.

"The problem here is that it looks to the court that she was hiding the ball," Judge Agresti said at the time, per the newspaper, "and until she got caught we wouldn't have known about this."

In June 2016, Lee Miller pleaded guilty to concealing bankruptcy assets, as confirmed to E! News. Miller also pleaded guilty to one count of not reporting an international monetary transaction. In March, she also announced she was walking away from the longtime TV series

While appearing in court Tuesday, she told the judge she was ashamed to be meeting this way and that she wished the judge could have taken her class. Lee Miller ultimately got teary eyed as she expressed regret for her actions.

"I am very sorry for what I've done," she said, according to reporters. "My name has been dragged through the mud."