'Chrisley Knows Best' star Todd Chrisley and wife reportedly indicted on tax evasion and bank fraud charges
Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of 'Chrisley Knows Best,' are said to be facing conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion charges. Todd Chrisley was reportedly investigated in 2017 for allegations of tax evasion and legal residency in Georgia, despite the family living in Florida.
"Chrisley Knows Best" stars Julie and Todd Chrisley pleaded not guilty to tax evasion and other federal charges at an initial court appearance on Wednesday.
The couple was indicted the day before on 12 counts of conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion.
If convicted of all counts, the reality personalities would face up to 30 years each behind bars.
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A judge agreed to release them on $100,000 unsecured bond each. That means they'd only have to pay if they failed to show up for court dates.
The judge ordered them to surrender their passports and said they're not allowed to travel outside of parts of Georgia and Tennessee without letting their probation officers know where they will be. Their lawyers had asked for travel permission so they can continue filming.
Todd Chrisley’s attorneys, Bruce H. Morris and Stephen Friedberg, told Fox News in a statement Tuesday: “The allegations contained in the indictment are based on complete falsehoods. The Chrisleys are innocent of all charges.”
On Monday night, Todd, 50, posted a lengthy Instagram note telling fans that an upcoming indictment was due to a disgruntled former employee stealing from his family and trying to retaliate after he was fired in 2012.
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Julie and Todd Chrisley of "Chrisley Knows Best" and "Growing Up Chrisley" were indicted on federal charges of bank fraud and tax evasion. The couple denied the allegations. (Getty, File)
The star wrote that he wouldn't go into detail, but said the former employee's alleged crimes included “all kinds of really bad stuff like creating phony documents, forging our signatures, and threatening other employees with violence if they said anything.”
Todd explained that the unidentified man spied on them and went as far as to take forged documents to the U.S. attorney’s office to get him and his wife in legal trouble.
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“[We] even discovered that he illegally bugged our home,” he wrote. “Needless to say, we fired the guy and took him to court — and that’s when the real trouble started. To get revenge, he took a bunch of his phony documents to the U.S. Attorney’s office and told them we had committed all kinds of financial crimes, like tax evasion and bank fraud. That got their attention all right, but once we had a chance to explain who he was and what he’d done to us, they realized it was all a bunch of nonsense and they sent him on his way.”
TODD CHRISLEY: DISGRUNTLED EX-EMPLOYEE BEHIND UPCOMING TAX EVASION, FRAUD INDICTMENTS
On Tuesday, right around the time news broke of the Chrisleys' indictment, Todd posted a promo for "Growing Up Chrisley."
A week earlier, Todd posted a series of cryptic Instagram messages, including one that reads, "The older I got, the more I realize the value of privacy, of cultivating your inner circle and only letting certain people in." He captioned the textual image, "No one is promised tomorrow so make the days you have with the ones you love and trust matter."
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Another post admonished big spending on designer labels. Todd captioned that snap, "If only we knew this in our youth we could’ve saved so many tears and heartaches, but once realized everything else in life makes more sense."
Fox News' Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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