The Feds to SIEZE Todd and Julie Chrisley’s $1 Million Lawsuit Settlement

The Feds to SIEZE Todd and Julie Chrisley’s $1 Million Lawsuit Settlement 

Todd and Julie Chrisley scored a $1 million settlement after suing Georgia tax official, Joshua Waites, for investigating “bogus” allegations against them, but the feds have since tried to block the payout.  

Jay Surgent, one of the jailed couple’s attorneys, addressed the government’s attempt to seize the funds, in an interview with Radar Online. The government reportedly wants the money applied to Todd and Julie’s $17 million restitution debt, tied to their fraud convictions.

Surgent noted several issues with the government’s delayed reaction to the news of the settlement deal, the most crucial being their slow response.

Surgent said — “They knew the $1 million was released but didn’t do anything about it until now.” 

The feds reportedly filed documents in an attempt to intercept the payment, claiming that they had only recently learned of the deal.  

The second major problem points to the claim that the funds have already been used to pay down the couple’s debt. 

The government stated in documents that they believed that the payment is  being held at the firm repping the incarcerated couple. The lawyer denied the claim. 

The law firm handling the couple’s appeal is listed in the documents. Surgent is serving as co-counsel, but his firm, Weiner Law Group, is not listed in the court docs. 

“They should have taken action to block the distribution and argued for the funds” as soon as the settlement happened,” Surgent explained. “They took no judicial action before the $1 million was released.”

“We have been saying for months that the criminal case against the Chrisleys was highly unusual and had real problems,” the family’s attorney, Alex Little, said in a statement to People, last month. “This settlement is an encouraging sign.” 

The lawyer added — “It’s nearly unprecedented for one arm of the government to pay money to defendants when another arm is fighting to keep them in jail.”

In October 2019, after being cleared of the state tax evasion charge, the former “Chrisley Knows Best” stars filed a lawsuit against the former Director of Special Investigations of Georgia’s Department of Revenue, for “specifically targeting” them in the state’s case. 

The couple’s former lawyer, Michael J. Bowers, said that Waites’ initial charges against the couple was “a shocking example of how an out-of-control public servant can abuse his office and violate the rights of innocent citizens for reasons that have more to do with securing publicity and money for his office than with enforcing the law.”

The Chrisleys further claimed that Waites had focused “his efforts and desire” on them as well as on Todd’s estranged daughter, Lindsie Chrisley. 

“This money did not go directly to either Todd or Julie, however, and neither of them have received any funds from the settlement. But numerous debts they previously owed, including some reflected in the pre-sentencing financial disclosures, were paid in whole or in part. Given that these payments resolve some of their debt, and therefore change their ‘economic circumstances’ in ‘material’ ways, the Defendants believed it prudent to notify the Court and the United States Attorney in accordance with the Judgment,” Bowers clarified in his statement announcing the settlement.  

A judge has yet to rule on the government’s effort to seize the funds. 

 

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