Judge denies bid from reality TV star Julie Chrisley to cut down fraud sentence

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A federal judge in Georgia on Wednesday rejected a bid from former reality TV star Julie Chrisley to reduce her sentence for a fraud and tax evasion conviction.

Chrisley will still serve an 84-month sentence, after being found guilty in 2022 of conspiring with her husband Todd to hide their earnings from tax officials and defraud community banks in the Atlanta area by obtaining $36m in fraudulent loans.

Julie Chrisley, the star of the USA Network show Chrisley Knows Best, had been seeking a reduction to no more than a five-year sentence, citing the impact of her detention in a Kentucky prison on her two youngest children.

“I cannot ever repay my children for what they’ve had to go through, and for that I’m sorry,” Chrisley, 51, said in court. “I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today.”

Savannah Chrisley, Julie’s daughter, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution her mother plans to appeal.

“That’s what you get from an Obama-appointed judge,” she said.

Prior to becoming TV stars, the Chrisleys made a fortune in real estate.

During that time, prosecutors say they and a former business partner submitted false documents to Georgia banks to obtain large loans, while living a luxury lifestyle, until Todd filed for bankruptcy, leaving behind over $20m in unpaid loans.

Despite being in dire financial straits, the couple “flaunted their wealth and lifestyle to the American public” and hid their TV earnings, prosecutors alleged.

In June, an appeals court upheld the couple’s convictions, but ordered a lower court to resentence Julie Chrisley, finding insufficient evidence she was part of the six-year bank fraud scheme in its first year, 2006.

Todd Chrisley, 56, is serving a 12-year sentence in Florida.

The couple’s former accountant, Peter Tarantino, was also convicted, and is set for release in March from an Atlanta-area halfway house.

The Chrisleys were first indicted in 2019.