ATLANTA — Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley have been ordered to serve out their sentences for bank fraud and tax evasion in a Florida prison starting in January.
According to documents filed by the U.S. Department of Justice Marshals Service, Todd Chrisley will report to Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, while his wife has been ordered to report to Federal Correctional Institution Marianna in Marianna, Florida. Both need to report to their respective prisons on Jan. 17 at noon.
The Chrisleys, whose family life was featured on the hit USA Network reality series “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced last month in federal court after being found guilty on all counts in a June jury trial. Each spouse was convicted of five counts of bank fraud, as well as single counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and tax evasion. Julie Chrisley was also convicted of wire fraud and obstruction.
Their television show, which was filmed primarily in Roswell and Alpharetta before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2016, ran for nine seasons and spawned a spinoff featuring the couple’s adult children. Both series were canceled in the wake of their convictions, and plans were scrapped for a third reality series on E!, a dating show to be hosted by Todd Chrisley.
Prosecutors argued the Chrisleys deliberately “swindled” more than $36 million from Atlanta community banks from 2007 to 2012 by inflating their net worth to get loans, purposely targeting smaller banks that did less due diligence than larger ones, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Todd Chrisley later filed for bankruptcy in 2012, two years before the reality show first aired, erasing $20 million in loan debt.
Prosecutors also alleged the couple actively hid millions they made from their television hits, as well as $500,000 in taxes Todd Chrisley, a real estate investor, owed in 2009. They were convicted of evading taxes going back to 2009.
For his part in the scheme, Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
The couple is also responsible for paying $17,270,741.57 in restitution to a total of eight banks. The amount each bank receives is based on the amount of money lost, according to the couple’s judgement documents.
They filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Dec. 5. Two days later, the couple petitioned the court for bond while their appeal is pending. As of Friday, there is no update on the appeal or their motion.
“Their trial was marred by serious and repeated errors, including the government lying to jurors about what taxes the couple paid. Based on these issues, we are optimistic about the road ahead,” their attorney Alex Little said in a statement following the sentencing.
Peter Tarantino, the couple’s accountant, was sentenced to three years in prison and will surrender May 1 after hip surgery. Tarantino was convicted in June for conspiracy to defraud the IRS and two counts of willfully filing false tax returns. An appeal has also been filed on Tarantino’s behalf.
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