One legal headache down! Todd and Julie Chrisley recently settled charges that they evaded nearly $2 million in state taxes. A spokesman for the couple, who star with their children on the USA reality shows Chrisley Knows Best and Growing Up Chrisley, announced the development in a press release on Tuesday, October 8.
Todd, 50, and Julie, 46, had been accused of owing more than $2.1 million in unpaid state taxes, penalties and interest to the Georgia Department of Revenue from the tax years between 2008 and 2016. With the settlement signed on September 27, however, the department agreed that the Chrisleys owed unpaid taxes for one year, owed nothing for four years, and even overpaid for four other years.
Under the terms of the settlement, the reality TV couple agreed to pay $150,000, according to the Associated Press.
“Julie and I knew all along that we had done nothing wrong and that when the facts all came out, we would be fine,” Todd said in the press release. “We’re just glad that the Department of Revenue was willing to keep an open mind and look at all the evidence.”
The couple still faces federal tax evasion charges, to which they pleaded not guilty, and their representation in the federal cast remains optimistic. “We have maintained from day one that there has not been any tax evasion by our clients Todd and Julie Chrisley,” attorney Bruce H. Morris of Finestone, Morris & White said in the press release. “This settlement with the state is a big step in the direction of proving their innocence.”
Todd informed Instagram followers of his legal trouble in August, one day before a federal grand jury issued a 12-count indictment against the couple. In the post, the real estate guru claimed that a fired employee, wanting “to get revenge,” took “phony documents” to the U.S. Attorney’s office and claimed the Chrisleys had committed financial crimes.
“I’m telling you all this now because we have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of,” Todd added. “Not only do we know we’ve done nothing wrong, but we’ve got a ton of hard evidence and a bunch of corroborating witnesses that proves it.”
On top of the tax evasion charges, Todd and his son Chase Chrisley faced extortion accusations from Lindsie Chrisley, Todd’s daughter from his prior marriage, in July. In a police report obtained by E! News, the 30-year-old claimed that Todd and Chase, 23, “wanted her to lie about an incident” and that they threatened to release an alleged sex tape involving her.
In a statement to E! News in August, Todd denied Lindsie’s allegations and claimed that she had had affairs with two Bachelorette alums. “It’s heartbreaking and shameful that these kinds of accusations have to be aired in public,” he said in the statement. “We have tried to keep Lindsie’s extramarital relationships with Robby Hayes and Josh Murray [during her marriage to Will Campbell] private for her sake since August of 2016,” he said in the statement. “Sadly, for reasons we can only guess at, she ran to the sheriff’s office to accuse her brother of buying a sex tape of her and Robby, which was a complete lie, and now she’s telling more lies about me.”
He added, “Although our hearts are broken, Lindsie is our daughter and we will always love her.”
