Former Dance Moms star Abby Lee Miller has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison after she was found guilty in a Pittsburgh federal court on multiple fraud charges.
Miller (51) was handed the sentence by US District Judge Joy Flowers for charges relating to hiding US$775,000 (NZ$1,122,538) worth of income and bringing US$120,000 worth of Australian currency into the US without reporting it.
At Miller’s sentencing Judge Flowers said: “You weren’t truthful, even when you knew you were supposed to tell everything, you still weren’t truthful.
“Somehow you got caught up in the fame and lost your moral compass.
“I hope when you get out the stars align for you.”
As well as the jail sentence, Judge Flowers fined the reality television star US$40,000 which she’ll have to pay on top the US$120,000 she agreed to pay as part of an earlier plea.
Miller will also spend two years on probation after prison.
The Dance Moms star who is best known for brash and abrasive persona on the dance competition show will reportedly serve her sentence in a federal facility near Los Angeles.
Before she was sentenced, Miller read a lengthy statement to a packed courtroom, explaining how the show’s popularity led to her situation.
“I’m certainly ashamed to be meeting you for the first time in this manner.
“I wish you could take my class or come to one of my events and see how much I love this.”
The celebrity filed for bankruptcy in 2010 after defaulting on mortgage payments for a Florida condominium and on her Abby Lee Dance Company studio in Penn Hills, Pittsburgh.
Miller left the hit show in March and is understood to be working out of a dance studio near Los Angeles.
