ATLANTA – Reality TV star Julie Chrisley’s sentence for bank fraud and tax evasion was rejected on Friday by federal appeals judges, who ordered a lower court to redo its punishment on what the appeals panel called a “narrow issue.”
Julie Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, who gained fame for the show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which chronicled the exploits of their close-knit family, were sentenced in 2022 of conspiring to defraud community banks of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion, hiding their earnings and displaying an extravagant lifestyle.
The couple’s accountant, Peter Tarantino, stood trial with them and was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States and willfully filing false tax returns.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of the Chrisleys and Tarantino in a decision that found legal error only in the way the trial judge calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence, holding her responsible for the entire scheme. of bank fraud. Therefore, the appellate panel sent the case back to the trial court for resentencing.
“We are pleased that the Court agreed that Julie’s sentence was inappropriate, but we are obviously disappointed that it rejected Todd’s appeal,” said Alex Little, the couple’s lawyer, in an email message. “Hopeful for more good news in the future.”
Before the Chrisleys became reality TV stars, they and a former business partner submitted false documents to Atlanta-area banks to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said during the trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, property and travel, and of using fraudulent new loans to pay off old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, according to prosecutors, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.
Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in federal prison and Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
His defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully on appeal that an IRS official lied at trial when he testified about the couple still owing taxes and that prosecutors knowingly failed to correct this false testimony. They also claimed that prosecutors failed to present enough evidence to convict the Chrisleys of tax evasion and conspiracy, or that Julie Chrisley participated in bank fraud.
Tarantino’s lawyer argued that the accountant was harmed by being tried with the Chrisleys. His request for a new trial was denied.
The appeals judges found only one error in the case. They ruled that the trial judge held Julie Chrisley responsible for the entire bank fraud scheme that began in 2006. The panel ruled that neither prosecutors nor the trial judge cited “any specific evidence showing that she was involved in 2006.”
The panel found sufficient evidence linking her to fraud over several years, beginning in 2007.
“We must vacate Julie’s sentence so that the district court can resolve the narrow question of what is the appropriate amount of loss attributable to Julie” so that her sentence can be recalculated, the appellate panel wrote.
Todd Chrisley, 56, is in a minimum-security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, with a release date of September 2032, while Julie Chrisley, 51, is in a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and is scheduled for release in July 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
Tarantino, 61, is being held at a minimum security federal prison camp in Montgomery, Alabama, with a release date of August next year.
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