Finally, Todd and Julie Chrisley have received some positive legal news.

On Tuesday, an attorney for the former reality stars announced the Chrisleys are receiving a $1 million settlement from the state of Georgia to resolve their 2019 federal lawsuit against Joshua Waites, the former Director of Special Investigations of the state’s Department of Revenue.

It’s a complicated scenario we’ll explain more in depth below.

“We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and had real problems,” the family’s lawyer, Alex Little of Burr & Forman LLP, said in a statement.

“This settlement is an encouraging sign.”

Todd and Julie were convicted in July 2022 of various types of financial fraud.

The former is serving a reduced 10-year prison sentence following his tax fraud conviction… while Julie is serving a reduced five-year sentence in Lexington, Kentucky on a similar charge.

Their original sentences, which were 12 years and seven years, respectively, were reduced in September 2023.

Previously, spouses filed a lawsuit against Waites, alleging that he abused his power as part of an effort to prosecute “bogus tax evasion claims” against them.

In court documents obtained by a number of celebrity gossip outlets, the Chrisleys said that Waites was guilty of misconduct in connection with his investigation of the couple — specifically targeting their estranged daughter, Lindsie, in an effort to “induce her to reveal compromising information about her family,” and to gain media attention for himself.

It seems now as if a judge agreed with this assessment.

This doesn’t mean Todd and Julie didn’t commit the crimes for which they’re serving time, however.

The Chrisleys have alleged that Waites pursued “an increasingly aggressive relationship with Lindsie,” and improperly shared their confidential tax and grand jury information that he had learned through his position with the Department of Revenue to gain her trust and to intimidate her into cooperation.

Again, this may very well have been the case.

A government official may have acted in an unethical manner.

The case is simply tricky because he may have done so and Julie and Todd ALSO may have broken the law.

Todd Chrisley have been outspoken ever since his initial arrest, proclaiming his innocence from the start and, more recently, claiming he’s been imprisoned amid filthy conditions.

According to the lawsuit, the reality stars’ former 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.”

The Chrisleys’ appeal of their criminal convictions will be heard by the federal appeals court in Atlanta in April.

Concluded Little in his statement this week:

“It’s nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail.”

It remains to be seen whether this judgment will have any impact on the Chrisleys’ aforementioned appeal.

Stay tuned, folks.

Todd and Julie Chrisley Awarded $1 Million in Lawsuit; Will They Be Released from Prison? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.