Todd & Julie Chrisley were sentenced to 12 & 7 years in prison for fraud

At the end of the day, Todd and Julie Chrisley’s fraud was relatively simple. It’s shocking that it took this long to send them to prison. The Chrisleys became famous for their cable reality show, Chrisley Knows Best, which aired for ten seasons. The Chrisleys live in Atlanta, and they were billed as maintaining some kind of real estate empire, only it was all a careful mirage. They falsified bank records and loan applications and grifted tens of millions in bank loans which they then defaulted on. And they never paid their taxes. Back in June, Todd and Julie were convicted on ten counts of fraud and tax evasion. They were sentenced this week:

Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of the USA Network’s top-rated original series, “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced to lengthy terms in federal prison on Monday for what prosecutors called a “15-year fraud spree.” Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Julie was sentenced to seven years, according to WSB-TV in Atlanta.

The couple were convicted in June of tax evasion and bank fraud. Prosecutors alleged they used falsified documents to obtain $30 million in bank loans, and then defaulted on more than $20 million in debt when Todd Chrisley declared bankruptcy in 2012. They also concealed millions of dollars from the IRS that they had earned from the show, the federal jury found.

Federal prosecutors had asked that Todd Chrisley be sentenced to 17-21 years, and that Julie face 10-12 years.

In a sentencing memo, prosecutors wrote that the Chrisleys flaunted their wealth on their TV show while stiffing creditors, including service workers and a contractor who was not paid for work on the couple’s house.

“Todd and Julie Chrisley are career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner,” the prosecutors wrote. “Their ’empire’ was built upon the backs of defrauded community banks that collapsed while Todd Chrisley used the stolen money to fly to Los Angeles for bi-weekly haircuts.”

The Chrisleys’ accountant, Peter Tarantino, was also sentenced on Monday to three years in prison for his role in the scheme. Tarantino was convicted of conspiring to defraud the IRS and filing false tax returns.

[From Variety]

What a sad commentary on American culture, honestly. These kinds of grifters exist in most wealthy societies, but I find it hard to believe that the Chrisleys would have been able to steal that amount of money if they hadn’t billed themselves as a “family values/white Southern pride” family, complete with a tacky reality show. They should have gotten longer prison sentences, but I’m glad they’re going away for a substantial amount of time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

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17 Responses to “Todd & Julie Chrisley were sentenced to 12 & 7 years in prison for fraud”

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  1. thatgworl says:

    This is really one of the few things yte folx just can’t get away with. Uncle Sam WILL get his money.

  2. JanetDR says:

    Well, I never heard of them, but there’s one family of real estate grifters down. Who’s next?

  3. TheOriginalMia says:

    My only concern is for the minors. Who’s going to raise Chloe and the younger son? As for Todd & Julie, they should have tried to make amends when they first got a hint the FBI was after them. They didn’t, so now they have to pay.

    • Notsoanonymous says:

      I wouldn’t be surprised if they allow Julie to stay home to raise the kids and report after the youngest is 18. IIRC the Guidice’s didn’t serve their sentences concurrently for this reason; they put one in first, then the other and deported Joe at the end.

    • Imara219 says:

      Honestly, the only one I do care about is that young bi-racial grandchild they were raising. I feel bad for her and this all makes me mad. Like y’all have minors act like you got common sense.

  4. BeanieBean says:

    Saw this on the news. Good! I confess to having watched the show for quite a bit, not sure why, I guess it’s the accents. The hubris is high, doing all this AND filming yourself for a TV show?? Then again, as JanetDR alludes just above, trump ‘crimed’ out in the open as POTUS!! I guess the Crisleys followed the trumpian model of grift.

  5. schmootc says:

    I feel about as bad for these people as I do Elizabeth Holmes. As in, not at all.

  6. JRenee says:

    I am aware of this family, I wasn’t aware that the charged were this serious. The younger kid was in a bad vehicle accident recently. They have custody of a grandkids and take care of his mom.
    A lot of people depending on them and they really screwed it all up, wow

  7. Jennifer says:

    LOLOLOLOL HAHAHAHAHAHAH.

    Seriously, saw a few episodes of this years ago and Todd was obviously an asshole/closeted gay and lying/jerkass, couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

  8. DeeSea says:

    Between these ding-dongs, Elizabeth Holmes, and Jen Shah, it’s reassuring to see that justice and accountability still matter to some extent. Grifters and scammers really grind my gears.

  9. Nicegirl says:

    Wow. That is a lot of fraud. Too much greedy money anger.

  10. Feebee says:

    What’s shocking apart from the time it took to get them to court is that it’s basically what Trump’s been doing for years. And while his case isn’t as simple, the real estate part alone probably is. And yet…

    For every one of these bastards who gets jail time, there are a 100 that don’t get caught.

  11. jferber says:

    Feebee, you said it. But I’d say it must be in the thousands that don’t get caught. They’re shifty as hell, have power and influence and their congressmen and senators are all too obliging in creating loopholes for them to wriggle out of tax paying. Also, “white collar crime” prison sentences are SO much lighter than penalties for other crimes. A person robs a gas station and gets $100 and a 15 year prison sentence. One of these grifters steals hundreds of thousands of dollars and usually gets less than 5 years. These 2 fraudsters are famous, so an example is made. I realize the human hazard of having a gun and threatening someone with it at the gas station crime. However, who made it so easy for desperate people to get guns in the first place? And we already know that these people love guns far more than their fellow human beings. Remember: when school children are slaughtered in their classrooms it NEVER leads to better gun control laws.

  12. Mattie says:

    Well you would not believe how many Facebook comments I’ve read spouting how they were punished harshly with the their sentences and how people who have committed murder received less time…..totally shocked with those comments

    Career long grifters getting their due ….. I remember while season 2 or 3 was occurring his real estate (?) grift were made public and loads of people made excuses for him

  13. AppleCart says:

    Federal guidelines for sentences is 85% of the time needs to be served. If appeals fail he will need to serve 10.2 years.

    OOOOOGGGAAAA What in the world is Todd going to do surrounded by men 24/7!!!