‘Chrisley Knows Best’ Couple Todd and Julie Chrisley Indicted on Tax Evasion Charges

Todd Chrisley and his wife Julie were indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday for tax evasion, along with other financial crimes. The Chrisley Knows Best couple was handed down the indictment in the Atlanta-Georgia Northern District. Their former accountant, Peter Tarantino, is reportedly facing the same charges.

WSBTV first reported on the indictment, which came less than a day since Todd released an Instagram statement where he warned fans about the news and denied any involvement in the crimes on his and his wife’s behalf.

In the post, he blamed an unidentified ex-employee who he claimed had stolen from his family, created fake documents and forged signatures.

“I’ve never talked about this publicly before, but there’s been a cloud hanging over Julie and me and our entire family for the past seven years. It all started back in 2012, when we discovered that a trusted employee of ours had been stealing from us big time,” he began the lengthy post.

He said he wouldn’t give specific details on the case, though he claimed the ex-employee’s crimes “involved all kinds of really bad stuff like creating phony documents, forging our signatures, and threatening other employees with violence if they said anything.”

“We even discovered that he illegally bugged our home,” Todd continued. “Needless to say, we fired the guy and took him to court — and that’s when the real trouble started. To get revenge, he 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. 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.”

After believing the case was over, Todd claimed the unidentified employee persuaded others in the U.S. Attorney’s office to reopen it.

“So far so good — except that our former employee didn’t give up. Somehow, he persuaded a different set of investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s office not only to reopen the case but also to grant him immunity from prosecution for his own crimes and bring charges against us,” he claimed.

“As a result, it looks like later this week Julie and I are going to be named in a federal indictment charging us with tax evasion and probably a bunch of other financial crimes as well,” he said.

He added, “We know we’ve done nothing wrong… 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.”

Todd’s daughter, Savannah Chrisley, commented on her father’s post, writing: “Thank you for being YOU! You have and always will be the glue that holds us all together. God has a much bigger plan for all of us and this is just part of it.”