‘Chrisley Knows Best’ Reality Stars Charged With Fraud, Tax Evasion and Conspiracy
“Chrisley Knows Best” reality stars Todd and Julie Chrisley were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion. The couple deny any wrongdoing.
The couple’s accountant, Peter Tarantino, was also indicted on tax-related offenses.
“Todd and Julie Chrisley are charged not only with defrauding a number of banks by fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans, but also with allegedly cheating taxpayers by actively evading paying federal taxes on the money they earned,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.
“Celebrities face the same justice that everyone does. These are serious federal charges and they will have their day in court,” Pak said in a statement.
“Chrisley Knows Best” has aired on the USA Network since 2014. It follows the trials and tribulations of the Chrisley family and is fueled by the amusing idiosyncrasies of strict patriarch Todd Chrisley, who worked in real estate. USA declined TheWrap’s request for comment Tuesday.
The series is currently on its seventh season — the first ten episodes aired in May, and the second half of the season is expected to air on USA this fall, according to a network insider.
Prosecutors said that from at least 2007 through 2012, Todd and Julie Chrisley conspired to defraud banks by providing them with false information, and fabricated bank statements when applying for and receiving millions of dollars in loans.
Prosecutors also said that in 2014, the Chrisleys used fabricated bank statements and a “fabricated credit report that had been physically cut and taped or glued together” to obtain a lease for a home in California.
Representatives for The Chrisleys did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment, but in an Instagram post Monday, Todd Chrisley predicted: “It looks like later this week Julie and I are going to be named in a federal indictment charging us with tax evasion and probably a bunch of other financial crimes as well.”
“We have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of,” the post continues. “Not only do we know we’ve done nothing wrong, but we’ve got a ton of hard evidence with a bunch of corroborating witnesses to prove it.”
Chrisley said a former employee is responsible for the charges, and that he had committed crimes against the family including “creating phony documents, forging our signatures, and threatening other employees with violence if they said anything.”
“Needless to say,” Chrisley continued, “we fired the guy and took him to court — and that’s when the real trouble started. To get revenge, 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.”
Read Todd Chrisley’s full statement below:
Thank you all for your love and support. Our family will forever be grateful ❤️ God bless you all!
A post shared by Todd Chrisley (@toddchrisley) on Aug 12, 2019 at 2:11pm PDT
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