'Chrisley Knows Best' Stars Deny Charges Of Fraud And Tax Evasion

Chrisley Knows Best stars Todd  and Julie Chrisley have been indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia announced  Tuesday. A federal grand jury’s decision comes one day after the reality television stars preemptively denied the charges, claiming they were being framed.

“Todd and Julie Chrisley are charged not only with defrauding a number of banks by fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans, but also with allegedly cheating taxpayers by actively evading paying federal taxes on the money they earned,” said U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak. “Celebrities face the same justice that everyone does. These are serious federal charges and they will have their day in court.”

The Chrisleys’ accountant, Peter Tarantino, has also been indicted on tax-related offenses.

Yahoo Entertainment reached out to Todd Chrisley’s publicist for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

On Monday, Todd addressed the looming charges in a lengthy post on Instagram. He denied the accusations on behalf of his family, saying they were set up by a disgruntled employee.

“It all started back in 2012, when we discovered that a trusted employee of ours had been stealing from us big time,” he wrote, asserting that said employee created “phony documents,” forged their signatures and threatened “other employees with violence” if they spoke out.

“We even discovered that he illegally bugged our home,” he added.

To get revenge after he was fired, the employee allegedly “took 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.”

According to Todd, the U.S. Attorney’s office didn’t bite at first. “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,” he wrote. However, the employee later convinced “a different set of investigators” to reopen the case, per the reality star.

“I’m telling you all this now because we have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of. Not only do we know we’ve done nothing wrong, but we’ve got a ton of hard evidence and a bunch of corroborating witnesses that proves it,” he shared. “Anyway, when all is said and done we trust in God...”

This isn’t Todd Chrisley’s first brush with financial drama. He filed for bankruptcy in 2012 with debts having totaled $49 million. In 2017, local Atlanta station WSB  reported that Todd was being investigated for tax evasion for failing to pay Georgia income taxes for years. He purportedly claimed legal residency in Florida even though the family resides in Georgia.

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