Todd and Julie Chrisley Request Judge's Permission to Travel to Cayman Islands for Thanksgiving
Todd Chrisley and his wife Julie are seeking a judge’s approval to leave Georgia for Thanksgiving, according to court documents obtained by The Blast.
In August, the couple was indicted by a grand jury for tax evasion, wire fraud and conspiracy bank fraud, according to court papers acquired by PEOPLE. They turned themselves in and pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The documents state that the Chrisley Knows Best stars are asking a judge to temporarily amend the conditions of their release, which prohibits them from leaving their home state. They are looking to travel to Nashville and then to the Cayman Islands with their children and grandchild. Their attorney did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Todd, 50, and Julie, 46, are also asking to be temporarily granted their passports from Pretrial Service to leave the United States. They state in the documents that they will return the passports on Dec. 2.
Although they still face federal charges, last month, the Georgia Department of Revenue agreed that the couple, who had been accused of evading nearly $2 million is state taxes between 2008 and 2016, had overpaid in four of those years. The couple owed nothing for four other years and had a net liability of less than $77,000 in overdue taxes for just one year of incorrect filing.
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“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 a statement. “We’re just glad that the Department of Revenue was willing to keep an open mind and look at all the evidence.”
The Chrisleys and the Department of Revenue officials signed a settlement agreement that ultimately led to the end of a two-year investigation into the Chrisleys’ alleged state tax liabilities.
In the settlement, the DOR dropped its claim that the couple owed more than $2.1 million in unpaid state taxes, penalties and interest and agreed that their total outstanding debt to the state totaled under $110,000. The sole year they owed the state any money was 2009, according to the DOR; that liability has been paid.
One week after they were cleared of the state charges, they filed a lawsuit against Joshua Waites, the director of the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Office of Special Investigations, for “specifically targeting” the famous family.
RELATED: Todd Chrisley and Wife Julie Cleared of $2 Million State Tax Evasion Charge
According to the lawsuit, obtained by PEOPLE, the reality stars’ lawyer Michael J. Bowers said that Waites’ initial charges against Todd and Julie was “a shocking example of how an out-of-control public servant can abuse his office and violate the rights of innocent citizens for reasons that have more to do with securing publicity and money for his office than with enforcing the law.”
Waites did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment at the time.
“Our investigators are fair and impartial in their work with a commitment to ensuring compliance with the law,” William Gaston, press officer in the Office of the Commissioner for the Georgia Department of Revenue, said in a statement to PEOPLE. “In accordance with state law and as a matter of standard protocol, the Department cannot comment on the specifics of any investigation, settlement, or pending litigation. This development is disappointing and their accusations are unfounded, but we will decline to provide any further comment on this matter.”
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Bowers accused Waites’ Office of Investigations of being given at least $2 million dollars for his “assistance” in forcing “settlements” in cases such as the Chrisleys’, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claimed that several years ago, Waites “began to focus his efforts and desire” on the Chrisley family, particularly Todd, as well as his estranged daughter Lindsie.”
The Chrisleys accuse Waites of targeting Lindise, 26, in an attempt to seek information about the family from her. When he was unable to get the information he wanted from her, Waites allegedly shared the Chrisley’s confidential tax information with Lindsie, according to the lawsuit.
“Ultimately Waites’s efforts failed, but in the process, the Chrisleys were forced to incur substantial personal and financial hardship,” Bowers said in the lawsuit.
