Todd and Julie Chrisley sentenced to 12 and seven years in prison
Prosecutors said the couple were motivated by greed as they engaged in an elaborate bank fraud scheme and then hid their assets from tax authorities.
Cody Godwin, USA TODAY
Reality TV personalities Todd and Julie Chrisley will receive a $1 million settlement from the state of Georgia to settle a 2019 lawsuit the “Chrisley Knows Best” couple filed against a former state tax official.
The family’s legal team announced the settlement Tuesday. According to court documents obtained by USA TODAY, both sides — Chrisley and Joshua Waites, former director of the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Office of Special Investigations — agreed to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice on Jan. 4. On September 13, 2023, the Chrisleys informed the court that they had reached a settlement.
“We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and contained real problems. This settlement is an encouraging sign,” the family’s attorney, Alex Little, said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s almost unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay defendants money while the other arm is fighting to keep them in prison.”
When will Todd and Julie Chrisley get out of jail?
Julie and Todd Chrisley are currently serving prison sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion. A Jan. 10 records search by USA TODAY shows Todd Chrisley, 55, has a projected release date of Nov. 23, 2032, from FPC Pensacola in Florida. Julie’s release from FMC Lexington in Kentucky is scheduled for August 20, 2028.
According to Little, an Atlanta federal appeals court will hear oral arguments in the Chrisleys case in April. Their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, shared the “big news” in November, calling the update “one step closer to bringing mom and dad home.”
“We have to go and debate why mom and dad should stay at home. God is good. Thanks Jeet!” she said in a video posted to Instagram on November 20.
Why did Todd and Julie Chrisley sue the Georgia tax official?
In October 2019, Todd and Julie Chrisley sued Waites, accusing him of being “an unruly public servant” who used “the power of his office” to pursue “bogus tax evasion claims” against them. Abused. The complaint obtained by USA TODAY also alleges that Waites targeted Todd Chrisley’s “estranged daughter, Lindsey Chrisley Campbell, in an effort to induce her to reveal compromising information about her family.”
His trial was filed just months after he pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
In June 2022, after a three-week trial, a jury found Todd and Julie Chrisley guilty of conspiring to defraud the IRS and commit tax evasion by making fraudulent loans worth more than $36 million from community banks in Atlanta . Julie Chrisley was also convicted of obstruction of justice.
Five months later, Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Julie Chrisley received a seven-year sentence, although both were reduced by at least two years and one year, respectively.
US Attorney Ryan K. “Over the course of a decade, the defendants defrauded banks of millions of dollars while avoiding payment of their federal income taxes,” Buchanan said in a statement after Chrisley’s sentencing in November 2022.
Savannah Chrisley Parents share ‘surprising’ update on Todd and Julie’s appeal case
