One week ago, Todd and Julie Chrisley were sentenced to jail on charges of tax evasion and other forms of financial fraud.
Todd, the patriarch of USA Network reality show Chrisley Knows Best, will serve 12 years behind bars; while wife Julie will serve seven.
Both were also sentenced to three years supervised release to be completed after serving their prison time, according to a news release from the Northern District of Georgia U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The law-breaking spouses, who have been married since 1996, were engulfed in a weeks-long trial that ended in June when they were convicted on tax evasion, bank fraud and conspiring to defraud the IRS.
Prosecutors alleged at the time that the wealthy reality stars used falsified documents to obtain $30 million in bank loans… and then defaulted on more than $20 million in debt when Todd Chrisley declared bankruptcy in 2012.
They also concealed millions of dollars from the IRS that they had earned from the aforementioned program.
We’re talking heinous, selfish, pompous white collar crime here.
“There was so much evidence in those financial records,” former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani told People Magazine last week, labeling the couple as narcissists for not agreeing to a plea deal.
He added that Todd and Julie will serve approximately 85 percent of their sentence — no matter what.
“Unlike states where inmates can sometimes serve less than even half of their sentence, under federal statutes, you only get a slight reduction for good behavior,” explained the attorney.
By various accounts, it also sounds as if Todd and Julie will lose their inevitable appeal.
“The fact that they didn’t accept any responsibility, even after they were convicted, is one of the reasons the judge hammered them, and they got such high sentences,” Rahmani continued.
“They didn’t take any steps to mitigate what they had done.
“So, they’re going to roll the dice on an appeal. I don’t think an appeal will be very successful, because there’s no clear legal error.
“They have a very slim chance of winning.”
We can’t say for certain at this time whether or not the sentences will be served simultaneously or staggered.
However, the couple’s lack of criminal history and low risk of violence will afford them a low-level security prison that will likely offer a multitude of therapies, educational programs, and religious studies.
“It’s not going to be Club Med,” says Rahmani.
“That’s a misconception, but it’s going to be somewhat of a camp environment where they’re going to be able to interact with other inmates.”
Somehow, USA has not yet canceled Chrisley Knows Best… but there can’t be any chance the series continues after the handful of Season 10 episodes that have already been filmed hit the air in 2023.
Meanwhile, an insider tells Us Weekly that “the family is devastated” following the verdict and that Julie is “distraught” after the judge’s official ruling came down last Monday.
“She didn’t think she’d have to serve time and that she would be able to serve time from home,” the source said, adding of the awful family members:
“They have said they are being made an example of because they are public figures. But it’s all just excuses for their behavior instead of accepting it.”
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Todd and Julie Chrisley: What Comes Next for the Convicted Reality Stars? was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip .