Chrisley Knows Best stars Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley have reportedly filed new court documents accusing the Georgia Department of Revenue of illegally obtaining the evidence being used against them in a federal tax evasion case. The couple is asking the court to dismiss the evidence and return the documents to them.
The couple claims the state Department of Revenue illegally seized two Atlanta storage units they were using in 2017, according to new legal documents obtained by TMZ. Both units had a “trove” of the Christley’s financial records.
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The USA Network reality stars claim the government agency used a bad warrant to obtain the documents. The warrant was based on a non-existent tax lien, according to the Chrisleys, and they accused investigators of taking short cuts and violating their rights.
That evidence was then given to federal prosecutors, who used the documents as evidence in their indictment, the couple claims. The Chrisleys now want their documents back and asked the judge handling the case to keep prosecutors from using the documents in the future.
In August, federal prosecutors charged Chrisley and Julie Chrisley with 12 counts related to tax fraud, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. They were accused of not filing federal tax returns for income taxes for 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The two entered a not guilty plea.
The week they were charged, Chrisley went to Instagram, where he blamed an employee for “stealing from us big time,” and said they discovered what the employee was doing in 2012. He accused the employee of doing “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.”
Chrisley said the employee was fired and took “phony documents” to the U.S. Attorney’s office to “get revenge.”
“I’m telling you all this because we have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of,” Chrisley later wrote. “Not only do we know we’ve 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 prove it.”
Chrisley’s move to get evidence the Georgia Department of Revenue tossed could be connected to his ongoing issue with Georgia authorities. They accused the couple of not paying $2 million in taxes between 2008 and 2016. That case ended when the state discovered they only owed $77,000 thanks to an incorrect filing, and the case was settled.
However, Chrisley sued Joshua Waites, the Director of the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Office of Special Investigation, accusing Waites of using a relationship with his estranged daughter, Lindsie Chrisley, to get more information on them. Lindsie also filed a police report in Georgia in July, accusing Chrisley and her brother of threatening her with an alleged sex tape. In October, Chrisley told Chrisley Confessions listeners the sex tape does not exist.
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