“Chrisley Knows Best” star Todd Chrisley ordered to pay $755,000 for slandering tax investigator

The reality TV personality is currently serving time in federal prison for financial fraud.

Todd Chrisley has suffered another legal loss.

The former Chrisley Knows Best star, who is currently incarcerated after being found guilty of financial fraud, has been ordered to pay $755,000 to Georgia Department of Revenue investigator Amy Doherty-Heinze after slandering her on podcasts and social media.

An eight-person Georgia jury on Thursday found Chrisley, 55, liable for two claims of libel and slander but not liable on a third claim of slander. Doherty-Heinze was awarded $350,000 in compensatory damages, $170,000 in punitive damages, and $235,000 in attorney fees from the reality TV personality and Atlanta-based businessman.

Doherty-Heinze had alleged that in 2020, Chrisley "began a social media campaign against the GDOR and certain of its employees, contending that the investigation was illegal and improperly motivated" when the department investigated Chrisley and wife Julie's tax evasion in 2017, according to documents obtained by PEOPLE.

Chrisley's attorney Leesa Guarnotta said Wednesday in a statement to Entertainment Weekly, "Although we are pleased the jury recognized that not all of Mr. Chrisley’s statements were defamatory and awarded the plaintiff a fourth of the damages she requested, we are concerned about the state of the First Amendment where such a case could make it to trial in the first place. We are optimistic about our appeal."

Doherty-Heinze's attorney Nicole Jennings Wade told EW that her client was "thrilled with the verdict in her favor. She is thankful to the federal jury who vindicated her and who found on every count that Todd Chrisley's accusations against her were false and defamatory. Amy is particularly pleased that the jury further found that Mr. Chrisley acted with actual malice and a specific intent to harm her. She hopes that this verdict will help deter Mr. Chrisley from targeting other innocent people in the future."

Doherty-Heinze had alleged that Chrisley "began attacking [her] and accusing her of a multitude of crimes and wrongdoing," and that he made more than 20 defamatory statements about her, including that she destroyed evidence, illegally utilized the Georgia Crime Information Center in an investigation, and vacationed at Walt Disney World using taxpayer money, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The plaintiff had initially asked Chrisley to retract his allegedly defamatory statements; when he declined to do so, she filed her lawsuit against him.

Chrisley is currently serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison after being convicted of bank fraud and tax evasion in 2022. He testified remotely from prison during the weeklong trial.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.