Julie Chrisley to be re-sentenced in bank fraud and tax evasion case

Chrisley knows best Former student Julie Chrisley's seven-year prison sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud was overturned after federal judges ruled her case did not contain enough evidence.

On Friday, June 21, a three-judge panel of the 11th United States Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions of Julie, her husband, Todd Chrisley – who was sentenced to 12 years in prison – and their accountant Peter Tarantino, but found that the original trial judge had incorrectly calculated Julie's 2022 sentence.

According to the judges' decision, obtained by PEOPLE, Julie was held responsible for the entire bank fraud scheme, which began in 2006, but the judges did not find enough evidence to prove she was involved before 2007 .

The panel ruled that neither prosecutors nor the trial judge cited “specific evidence demonstrating that she was involved in 2006.”

“The problem is that we have not found the evidence on which the district court relied in adopting this conclusion,” the justices wrote in their Friday ruling.

“Our review of the record has revealed no evidence demonstrating, even by a preponderance of the evidence, that [Julie] ” was involved in 2006. Indeed, the government's brief admits that the evidence shows that Julie “participated in the bank fraud conspiracy beginning in 2007″ and not 2006,” the judges added.

Julie's case will now be sent back to a lower court for resentencing, so a judge can re-examine the “narrow question” of how much Julie's sentence should differ from her original sentence.

“We are pleased that the Court recognized that Julie's sentence was inappropriate, but we are obviously disappointed that it rejected Todd's appeal,” the Chrisleys' attorney, Alex Little, told PEOPLE in a statement. .

“With this step taken, we can now challenge the couple’s convictions on the basis of the illegal search which gave rise to the case,” Mr Little added. “The family appreciates the continued support they have received throughout this process. And they look forward to more good news in the future.”

The couple's daughter, Savannah Chrisley, shared an update on the decision on Friday, June 21, in an Instagram post, in which she spoke directly to camera about the call.

“It didn’t necessarily go the way we hoped,” Savannah, 26, said in the video. “But we have a small victory.”

“What [the ruling] This means that the appeals court found no evidence attributing this $17 million loss to my mother. And for that, I am grateful and I hope and pray that the judge can send her home,” she continued.

Savannah added that Julie could be released from prison as early as 2026 and that she had “other ideas in store” for returning to her father's case.

The move comes nearly a year after Savannah revealed in July 2023 that her family had hired a new legal team to appeal Todd and Julie's case.

Todd and Julie's attorney, Jay Surgent, spoke with PEOPLE that same month to provide an update on the couple's appeals process, saying new cases were being submitted.

“The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals may vacate the district court's decision, or remand the case for hearings that should have occurred and did not occur during this trial,” Surgent told the time.

“We argued very vigorously that their constitutional rights were violated and that they did not receive a fair trial. In fact, it's all black and white,” he added.

The former USA Network stars were first indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2019 on 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy, all of which they have denied.

Prosecutors accused the two men and their accountant of evading nearly $2 million in state taxes between 2008 and 2016 and using their production company, 7 C Production, to hide from the IRS over a million dollars from their reality TV earnings. Prosecutors also alleged that Todd directed an employee to falsify documents about his income and assets.

The Chrisleys later turned themselves in and pleaded not guilty. In October 2019, the Georgia Department of Revenue cleared them of tax evasion charges. The department found that the reality TV stars had overpaid their taxes for several years and had a net liability of less than $77,000 in delinquent taxes for one year of improper reporting.

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In June 2022, the couple and their accountant were found guilty on all counts in a federal court in Georgia, on Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time. Julie was also convicted of wire fraud.

The Chrisleys began their prison sentence in January 2023, and Todd is scheduled to be released in September 2032 from the Pensacola federal detention camp. Their original sentences were also reduced in September 2023.