The 'Chrisley Knows Best' star is attempting to shed some light on the situation.
Todd Chrisley and his wife, Julie, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion, but the reality star is claiming he's innocent.
The Chrisley Knows Best star took to Instagram on Monday with claims that a disgruntled former employee had set out to convince the U.S. Attorney's office that the Chrisleys were responsible for committing financial crimes. Chrisley said he and his wife have "nothing to hide."
"It all started back in 2012, when we discovered that a trusted employee of ours had been stealing from us big time. I won't go into details, but it involved all kinds of really bad stuff like creating phony documents forging our signatures, and threatening other employees with violence if they said anything," he wrote, claiming that he discovered the former employee had bugged their home, and then took took him to court.
"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," Chrisley alleged. "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."
The real estate mogul continued, claiming that the former employee had "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."
"We have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of," Chrisley continued his message. "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."
The reality star concluded by thanking fans for their support, and insisting, "we will continue to work every day to earn your respect, loyalty, and admiration."
The Chrisleys' attorneys, Bruce H. Morris and Stephen Friedberg, also tell ET in a statement, "The allegations contained in the indictment are based on complete falsehoods. The Chrisleys are innocent of all charges."
Court documents obtained by ET on Tuesday show that Chrisley and his wife were indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, has also been indicted on tax-related offenses.
"Todd and Julie Chrisley are charged not only with defrauding a number of banks by fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans, but also with allegedly cheating taxpayers by actively evading paying federal taxes on the money they earned,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak. said in a statement to ET. "Celebrities face the same justice that everyone does. These are serious federal charges and they will have their day in court."
"The reality of this indictment is that the FBI takes allegations of bank fraud and wire fraud very seriously and devotes many resources to protecting the institutions and citizens affected by those crimes," said Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta. "The Chrisleys will now have their day in court, but anyone else considering this type of alleged activity should take notice."
"The tax charges in this indictment serves notice that the Internal Revenue Service has zero tolerance for individuals who attempt to shirk their tax responsibilities. This action is also part of a much larger and coordinated effort by the IRS and Department of Justice to aggressively find and crack down on individuals who try to conspire with others to hide their income and then lie to federal agents when confronted. Honest and law abiding taxpayers are fed up with the likes of those who use deceit and fraud to line their pockets at their expense," added Thomas J. Holloman, III, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Field Office.
Meanwhile, a source exclusively tells ET that Todd and Julie are "extremely nervous." However, the source says, "They’re happy in a way that it’s coming to a head so they can successfully get this behind them."
See more on the Chrisley family in the video below.
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