Former reality TV star Todd Chrisley was just ordered to pay a whopping $755,000 to Amy Doherty-Heinze, an investigator for the Georgia Department of Revenue. According to a report by PEOPLE, a federal jury ruled that Chrisley defamed Doherty-Heinze with posts on social media meant to appeal to his fans. He must pay compensatory and punitive damages as well as covering her legal fees.
Doherty-Heinze sued Chrisley back in July of 2021. In court documents obtained by TMZ, she said that Chrisley “began a social media campaign against the GDOR and certain of its employees, contending that the investigation was illegal and improperly motivated.” She claimed that Chrisley accused her of illegally snooping on a government program to get more information on his family. Chrisley denied these allegations and tried to avoid going to court over this lawsuit, but eventually they had to go before a judge.
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Before filing a lawsuit, Doherty-Heinze served a “retraction demand” to Chrisley, but he failed and refused to retract any of his false and defamatory accusations.” She wrote that he “acted in bad faith” during these communications, leading her to file a full-blown lawsuit instead. The jury in this case found Chrisley liable, and a judge ordered Chrisley to pay the settlement last Thursday. However, Doherty-Heinze was not given all of the damages she initially requested, which Chrisley’s attorneys counted as a win.
Doherty-Heinze was awarded $300,000 in compensatory damages and $170,000 in punitive damages. Chrisley was also ordered to cover her legal fees, which brings the grand total to over three-quarters of a million dollars. Chrisley’s attorney Leesa Guarnotta told PEOPLE that they are “pleased the jury recognized that some of Mr. Chrisley’s statements were not defamatory and awarded the plaintiff a fourth of the damages she requested.”
Chrisley had to handle this whole ordeal from prison as he is now serving a 10-year sentence behind bars for bank and wire fraud, tax evasion, and conspiracy. He and his wife were both indicted on these charges back in August of 2019, and reported to federal prisons for their sentences starting in January of 2023. His attorneys said that they intend to appeal this decision and are “optimistic” that they could win the case altogether. Either way, Chrisley will be behind bars for nearly a decade to come.
