Julie Chrisley will likely be home much sooner than anticipated.
On Friday, the former USA Network personality learned that his seven-year prison sentence in Kentucky for tax evasion and bank fraud has ended was overturned by a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Let us consider what this means?
In 2022, Julie was convicted of federal tax evasion and bank fraud along with her husband Todd Chrisley and their accountant Peter Tarantino.
According to their indictment, the spouses knowingly “defrauded” community banks of at least $30 million between 2007 and 2012 by inflating their net worth to obtain loan approvals.
Prosecutors also alleged the couple actively concealed millions of dollars they earned from the “Chrisley Knows Best” show, as well as $500,000 in back taxes Todd owed in 2009.
The disgraced stars surrendered to authorities early last year and were sentenced to prison.
However, in the documents accepted on June 21, A legal error was found in the way the trial judge calculated Julie’s sentence… because it held her accountable for Complete Bank fraud schemeAlthough his role in this was small.
The appellate panel has now sent his case to Back taken to the lower court for re-sentencing.
(For the record, Todd and Peter’s prison sentences will remain intact.)
“We must vacate Julie’s sentence so that the district court may consider the narrow issue of how much Julie should lose for purposes of the base offense level, restitution, and forfeiture,” the appeal document reads.
“The district court must make factual findings about when Julie’s involvement in the conspiracy began, and, if it concludes that Julie’s involvement began in 2006, it must identify the evidence on which it bases its conclusion.
“In reconsidering this issue, we express no opinion as to what the exact amount of damages should be.”
Panel added:
“The district court did not identify the evidence it relied on to hold Julie liable for losses incurred prior to 2007, and we cannot independently find it in the record.
“We therefore vacate Julie’s sentence and commit the matter solely to the district court to make the factual findings and calculations necessary to determine damages, restitution and forfeiture with respect to Julie and re-sentence her accordingly.”
Julie’s case will be heard in the lower court soon and her new punishment will be decided in the upcoming hearing.
But it will obviously fall short by a significant amount.
In February, daughter Savannah Chrisley read some letters her mother wrote from prison to podcast listeners.
“I miss Todd so much,” Chrisley reportedly wrote of her husband at the time. “I miss his voice. I miss laying in bed next to each other. I miss my person.”
Julie may still miss her partner since Todd will remain behind federal bars. But at least she will be able to hug her kids sometime in the near future.
“We are pleased that the court recognized that Julie’s sentence was unfair, but we are obviously disappointed that it rejected Todd’s appeal,” a family attorney told People magazine this week.
“With this step, we can now challenge the couple’s convictions based on the illegal search that initiated this case. The family appreciates the continued support they have received throughout this process. And they look forward to more good news in the future.”