Todd and Julie Chrisley were each sentenced to time in prison, Us Weekly can confirm. The Chrisley Knows Best stars’ sentencing comes five months after a jury found the couple guilty of tax fraud.
On Monday, November 21, Judge Eleanor Ross sentenced Todd, 53, to 12 years in prison, while Julie, 49, was sentenced to seven years. The couple will have to serve 16 months of probation as well.
Their sentencing comes one week after their 16-year-old son, Grayson, was involved in a serious car accident in Nashville. He reportedly suffered bad injuries, including a potential head injury and was transported to the hospital after the crash, according to TMZ.
The couple, who have been married since 1996 and share son Chase, 26, daughter Savannah, 25, and Grayson, were engulfed in a weeks-long trial that ended in June when they were convicted on tax evasion, bank fraud and conspiring to defraud the IRS.
The Chrisley family patriarch, who also shares daughter Lindsie, 33, and Kyle, 31, with ex-wife Teresa Terry, denied the claims in a lengthy statement, alleging his and Julie’s former employee Mark Braddock was trying to get “revenge” on them. “He took a bunch of his phony documents to the U.S. Attorney’s office and told them we had committed all kinds of financial crimes, like tax evasion and bank fraud,” Todd said in 2019. “That got their attention all right, but once we had a chance to explain who he was and what he’d done to us, they realized it was all a bunch of nonsense and they sent him on his way. [He] persuaded a different set of investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s office not only to reopen the case but also to grant him immunity from prosecution for his own crimes and bring charges against us.”
After the jury reached a verdict, the couple’s lawyer, Bruce Howard Morris, said he was “disappointed” and noted that “an appeal is planned.”
A source also told Us at the time that “the entire family is devastated about the verdict” as they “[weren’t] sure what this means for the future of Chrisley Knows Best and other projects.
“No one knows what’s going to happen or what to do at this stage,” the insider continued. “Any future planning in Todd and Julie’s life is pretty much on pause until they learn of the sentencing in the fall. It’s horrible news and they were not expecting to be found guilty. Their whole life changed in that moment.”
Although the couple faces a heavy future, the family is pulling together behind their parents. Even Todd’s daughter Lindsie, whom he shares with ex Terry, is supporting her father despite their previous public conflicts.
“The kids are trying their best to cheer up their parents. They all came together to show support — these last few weeks, for sure, have brought them closer,” an additional insider revealed to Us. “Lindsie is there for both of her parents despite her previous estrangement from Todd.”
The source added that Lindsie wanted her son, Jackson, 9, whom she shares with ex Will Campbell, to have a relationship with his grandfather “no matter what.”
“She set aside her differences with Todd to be there for him and it meant a lot to him,” the insider shared.
