Todd and Julie Chrisley, the stars of the USA Network reality show, “Chrisley Knows Best”, and their accountant, Peter Tarantino, were indicted in August 2019 on 12 counts of tax evasion and bank and wire fraud conspiracy.
According to the indictment, the couple failed to timely file federal tax returns or pay income taxes for the period from 2013 through 2016. In addition, the charges include defrauding a number of banks by obtaining millions of dollars in loans using false information provided to the lending institutions, including inflated account balances, false invoices and audit paperwork.
Todd Chrisley blames a disgruntled former employee, who the couple says was stealing from the family, forging their signature and bugging their home, in an act of retaliation after he was fired. Chrisley claims that the employee not only was stealing from the family but, “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.” Chrisley went on to explain that, “We have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of.” He says he has a lot of evidence to prove he and his wife Julie are innocent.
