Former reality television star Julie Chrisley is due to appear in Atlanta’s federal trial court at 10 a.m. Wednesday to be resentenced on bank fraud and tax evasion charges.
Chrisley, 51, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022 after being found guilty at trial of bank fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and obstruction of justice. Her husband, Todd Chrisley, was also found guilty of all the charges he faced and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The jury found that the Chrisleys fraudulently obtained $36 million in bank loans and hid their millions of dollars in income to avoid paying more than $500,000 in federal taxes.
In June, the Atlanta-based federal appeals court upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions but ruled that Julie Chrisley must be resentenced. The appellate court found sufficient evidence that Julie Chrisley had participated in the bank fraud scheme from 2007 to 2012, but said it wasn’t clear that she was involved in the conspiracy when it began in 2006.
Julie Chrisley’s attorneys have asked U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross to impose a new sentence of no more than five years in prison. Whatever new sentence is imposed, Julie Chrisley is expected to receive credit for the 20 months she’s already served.
Prosecutors asked the judge to again sentence Julie Chrisley to seven years behind bars. In 2022, they asked for her to receive a 12-year prison sentence.
Julie Chrisley’s resentencing hearing is the first time she’ll appear in court wearing a prison uniform. She had asked permission to wear her own clothes during the hearing, but was told she’d have to wear a prison uniform like other defendants in her situation.
Her attorneys said in a Sept. 20 filing that she had been “a model inmate” during her time in a Kentucky prison, where she had received a license to operate a forklift and more than 40 certificates for completing various programs.
“Since the first day of her incarceration, Ms. Chrisley has worked to better herself as an inmate and citizen and is poised to seamlessly re-enter society upon her release,” her attorneys, Alex Little and Zachary Lawson, said. “She has worked continuously during her time as an inmate, including in the commissary, food service, and laundry. Ms. Chrisley currently works in two different positions in the facility. She also has taught classes to other inmates.”
The amount of money Julie Chrisley must pay in restitution is expected to be significantly reduced as part of her new sentence. In 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were jointly ordered to pay $17.2 million in restitution and to forfeit the same amount.
Prosecutors acknowledged in a recent court filing that Julie Chrisley should only be responsible for banks losing $4.7 million. They said that amount is “the actual loss incurred after Julie’s real estate company received its first fraudulent loan on July 11, 2007.”
The Chrisleys, who got rich working in real estate, lived in Atlanta when they landed a reality television show about their family in 2013. They moved to Nashville before they were indicted in 2019.
Todd Chrisley, 56, is in a minimum security prison in Pensacola, Florida. Julie Chrisley has been serving her sentence in a prison facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
She had asked to remain in prison during her resentencing hearing, to avoid the trip to Atlanta. The request was denied.
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