Chrisley knows best Alum Julie Chrisley’s seven-year prison sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud has been overturned after federal judges ruled her case lacked sufficient evidence.
On Friday, June 21, a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Julie, her husband, Todd Chrisley — who received a 12-year prison sentence — and their accountant, Peter Tarantino, but found that the original judge had erred calculated Julie’s sentence in 2022.
According to the judge’s verdict, obtained by PEOPLE, Julie was held responsible for the entire bank fraud scheme, which began in 2006, but judges did not find enough evidence to prove she was involved before 2007.
The panel ruled that neither the prosecutors nor the judge provided “any concrete evidence to show that she was involved in 2006.”
Everything you need to know about Todd and Julie Chrisley’s $30 million fraud trial
The Chrisley Family in “Chrisley Knows Best”.
Tommy Garcia/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty
“The problem is that we have not found the evidence that the district court relied on in making that finding,” the justices wrote in Friday’s decision.
“Our review of the record has revealed no evidence to show, even by a preponderance of the evidence, that [Julie] was involved in 2006. Indeed, the government’s brief concedes that the evidence shows that Julie ‘participated in a bank fraud conspiracy in 2007,’ not 2006,” the judges added.
Julien’s case will now be sent back to a lower court for a retrial, so the judge can revisit the “narrow question” of how much Julien’s sentence should differ from the original.
“We are pleased that the court agreed that Julie’s sentence was inappropriate, but we are obviously disappointed that it denied Todd’s appeal,” Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, told PEOPLE in a statement.
“With this step behind us, we can now challenge the couple’s convictions based on the illegal search that started the case,” Little added. “The family appreciates the continued support they have received throughout this process. And they hope for more good news in the future.”
The couple’s daughter Savannah Chrisley shared news of the ruling on Friday, June 21, in an Instagram post, where she spoke directly to camera about the appeal.
“It didn’t necessarily go the way we hoped,” Savannah, 26, said in the video. “But we have a small victory.”
“What [the ruling] means that the appeals court could find no evidence to attribute this $17 million loss amount to my mother. And for that I am grateful and I hope and pray that the judge can send her home,” she continued.
Savannah added that Julie could be released from prison as early as 2026 and has “some other ideas up her sleeve” to revisit her father’s case.
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Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley 2017. Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017/Getty
The ruling comes nearly a year after Savannah revealed in July 2023 that her family had hired a new legal team to appeal Todd and Julie’s case.
Todd and Julie’s attorney, Jay Surgent, spoke to PEOPLE that same month to report on the couple’s appeals process, saying new motions are being filed.
“The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals may overturn the District Court’s decision or may remand the case for hearings that should have been held but were not held during this trial,” Surgent explained at the time.
“We argued very vehemently that their constitutional rights were violated and that they were basically not given a fair hearing. Everything is actually black and white,” he added.
Julie Chrisley cooked chicken and casseroles with stuffing for the prisoners using the radiator
The former USA Network stars were first indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2019 on 12 counts of wire and wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, all of which they have denied.
Prosecutors accused the couple and their accountant of evading nearly $2 million in state taxes between 2008 and 2016 and using their production company, 7 C Production, to hide more than $1 million of their reality TV income from the IRS. Prosecutors also alleged that Todd ordered the employee to falsify income and asset documents.
The Chrisleys later turned themselves in and pleaded not guilty. In October 2019, the Georgia IRS cleared them of state tax evasion charges. The department found that the reality stars overpaid their taxes for several years and had a net liability of less than $77,000 in back taxes for a year of incorrect reporting.
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In June 2022, the couple and their accountant were found guilty on all counts in federal court in Georgia, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time. Julie was also convicted of fraud.
The Chrisleys’ prison sentences began in January 2023, and Todd is scheduled to be released in September 2032 from Pensacola Federal Prison. Their original sentences were also reduced in September 2023.
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Source: HIS Education