Julie Chrisley sentenced to 7 years again in fraud and tax evasion case

A federal judge resentenced Julie Chrisley to seven years in prison on Wednesday for her conviction on bank fraud and tax evasion charges, denying the reality star’s request to reduce her prison sentence from the original one.

Chrisley and her husband, Todd Chrisley, rose to fame through their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” which followed their close-knit family and extravagant lifestyle. A jury in 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud local banks of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans. The Chrisleys were also found guilty of tax evasion by concealing their income.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals in June upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions, but found legal error in the way the trial judge calculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence by holding her responsible for the entire bank fraud scheme. The appeals panel sent her case back to the lower court for resentencing.

Julie Chrisley’s lawyer, Alex Little, asked the judge to reduce his client’s sentence to a maximum of five years. He argued that she was a minor player in the crimes and that her “scattered offending” was “dramatic error.” He also noted that she has behaved well and taken advantage of enrichment opportunities during her 20-month sentence to date, and that she has received more than 70 certificates.

Little had argued in a court document that the Chrisleys’ two youngest children have difficulty “functioning on a daily basis” because of their mother’s absence.

Federal prosecutor Annalise Peters urged the judge to reimpose the seven-year sentence, arguing that prosecutors had been conservative in charging the Chrisleys, that Julie Chrisley was a “core part” of a fraudulent scheme, and that she had failed to apologize, show remorse or admit her mistakes.

Chrisley’s good behavior in prison does not undo an “11-year journey of fraud after fraud after fraud,” Peters said.

Peters said she felt sympathy for Chrisley’s family, but that their suffering was “a natural consequence of the criminal choices of this defendant.”

Chrisley, dressed in a dark blue prison uniform and with her previously blonde hair now dark brown, addressed the judge.

“I apologize for my actions and what got me to where I am today,” she said, later adding that her time in prison had been “the most difficult time of my life” and hard on her family.

“I can never repay my children for what they went through, and I’m sorry,” she said.

Before the Chrisleys became reality stars, they and a former business partner filed false documents with Atlanta-area banks to obtain fraudulent loans, prosecutors said at their trial. They accused the couple of spending lavishly on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, and of using new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones. Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, prosecutors said, and walked away with more than $20 million in unpaid loans.

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross said that when she originally sentenced Julie Chrisley, she took into account her age, her health and the fact that she was caring for young children and elderly parents. Ross said she imposed a sentence that was below the guidelines for Chrisley’s crimes and situation and below what prosecutors had requested. That deviation from the guidelines was not based on the amount of loss or the number of years Chrisley was involved, so her sentence will not change, Ross said.

The judge noted that many of the people she has sent to prison have children, and most of them do not have the resources or support system that the Chrisleys do.

“It makes me sad when I see children going through something like this,” Ross said, later adding that she reminded herself, “I’m not the one who made the choices to put the children in that situation.”

Two of the Chrisleys’ adult children, Savannah and Chase, attended the hearing. Savannah Chrisley, who endorsed former President Trump’s 2024 candidacy at the Republican National Convention in July, told reporters outside the courthouse that her parents’ prosecution and conviction were politically motivated.

“That’s what you get with an Obama-appointed judge,” she said as her mother was led out of the courtroom by U.S. marshals. Ross was appointed judge by then-President Obama and took the job in November 2014.

She said her mother will appeal the new sentence.

Todd Chrisley is serving a 12-year sentence behind bars. The couple was originally ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution, but Ross said Wednesday that amount has now been raised to $4.7 million.

Todd Chrisley, 56, is being held in a minimum-security federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, with a release date of September 2032, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons website. Julie Chrisley, 51, was being held in a facility in Lexington, Kentucky, and is expected to return there.

Brumback writes for the Associated Press.