Former reality star to continue sentence

Former reality star Julie Chrisley, who had been serving time in a Lexington, Kentucky, federal prison, was ordered to continue serving her seven-year sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud after a resentencing hearing on Wednesday morning.

An attorney for the Chrisleys had requested a reduced sentence for the Chrisley family matriarch, according to The Associated Press. Meanwhile, U.S. attorneys argued Julie Chrisley was a “core part” of the fraud scheme.

“I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today,” Chrisley said, according to the AP.

She added that her incarceration has been “the most difficult time in my life. I cannot ever repay my children for what they have had to go through, and for that I am so sorry,” she said, according to People magazine.

Here’s what you need to know about Julie Chrisley and her resentencing hearing:

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Julie Chrisley resentencing

Julie Chrisley will continue to serve her seven-year prison sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud, a federal judge ordered.

Julie Chrisley appeared in federal court in Atlanta on Wednesday morning for a sentencing hearing three months after the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the lower court miscalculated Chrisley’s prison time, citing lack of evidence of her full involvement in the bank fraud scheme for which she and husband Todd Chrisley were sentenced.

According to a court filing obtained by USA TODAY, U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross upheld her 2022 ruling and gave “justification for the sentence imposed” during the 50-minute hearing. Chrisley was sentenced to 84 months of incarceration, five years of supervised release and more than $4.7 million — the total amount prosecutors said she obtained illegally — in restitution.

The judge reportedly explained her 2022 ruling was already a reduced sentence for Chrisley’s crimes and less than what prosecutors had requested for the former reality star.

Per Ross’ amended forfeiture order filed Wednesday, which was reviewed by USA TODAY, Todd Chrisley was found to have “received a total of $17,270,741.57 in proceeds as a result of committing the offense of conviction” and was ordered to forfeit that amount to the government.

Is Julie Chrisley in a Kentucky prison?

Days ahead of her resentencing hearing on Wednesday, a records check showed Julie Chrisley is not at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky.

According to a Bureau of Prisons record search, Julie Chrisley was shown as “not in BOP custody” as of Sunday, Sept. 22, with a release date of April 22, 2028. The BOP site is a record locator for inmates and does not explain what “not in BOP custody” means.

However, the site notes that a pretrial inmate may have been removed from custody by the U.S. Marshals Service “and subsequently released by the court with no further notice to the BOP.”

Todd and Julie Chrisley are both serving prison sentences after a jury in June 2022 found them guilty of conspiring to defraud community banks in Atlanta out of more than $36 million in fraudulent loans, defraud the IRS and commit tax evasion.

Julie Chrisley was additionally convicted of obstruction of justice and wire fraud.

Five months later, Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison, while Julie Chrisley received a seven-year sentence. They began their respective sentences in January 2023.

Why did Julie Chrisley get resentencing hearing?

After 18 months, Julie Chrisley‘s prison sentence was thrown out after federal judges ruled her case had insufficient evidence, according to a June 25, 2024, story in USA TODAY.

In June 2024, judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the judge in Julie Chrisley’s 2022 trial miscalculated her sentence and did not find evidence proving her full involvement in the bank fraud scheme for which she was sentenced, according to documents obtained by USA TODAY.

The court of appeals upheld Chrisley, her husband Todd Chrisley and their accountant Peter Tarantino’s convictions, but found the original trial judge miscalculated Julie Chrisley’s sentence. She was held responsible for the entire fraud scheme, which began in 2006.

“The district court did not identify the evidence it relied on to hold Julie accountable for losses incurred before 2007, and we cannot independently find it in the record,” the judges wrote in their unpublished opinion.

“We’re pleased that the Court agreed that Julie’s sentence was improper, but we’re obviously disappointed that it rejected Todd’s appeal,” Julie and Todd Chrisley’s lawyer Alex Little said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY in June 2024. “With this step behind us, we can now challenge the couple’s convictions based on the illegal search that started the case.”

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Where is Todd Chrisley?

Todd Chrisley, 56, is serving time at FPC Pensacola, described on its site as a “minimum security federal prison camp.”

A Sept. 25 records search by USA TODAY shows Todd Chrisley has an anticipated release date of July 2032, from FPC Pensacola in Florida. 

Who are Todd and Julie Chrisley?

Before Julie and Todd Chrisley became inmates of federal prisons in Kentucky and Florida, the pair were best known for their reality show “Chrisley Knows Best.”

In the USA Network docuseries, the couple portrayed themselves as real estate tycoons, and viewers got a peek into their lavish lifestyle in the suburbs of Atlanta and Nashville. The show drew in more than 2 million viewers by its eighth season. Todd Chrisley has two children with his first wife, high school sweetheart Teresa Terry, and three children with his second wife, Julie.

On the show, Todd Chrisley doesn’t shy away from sex talk, even giving The Sex Talk to his kids — on national TV. In 2017, Todd Chrisley made headlines after he called his 72-year-old mom out on TV for sexting, and he’s addressed speculation that he’s gay.