Redeem now - Federal prosecutors said Todd and Julie Chrisley asked his mother to lie on the stand.
- The allegations came at a sentencing hearing for the couple's fraud convictions.
- The defense said there was no evidence showing the couple influenced Faye Chrisley's testimony.
An Atlanta federal prosecutor said that Todd Chrisley's 77-year-old mother, Elizabeth "Faye" Chrisley, committed perjury by lying on the stand at her son and daughter-in-law's trial — at their direction.
"They used her to help further their crime and, frankly, victimized her by asking her to take the stand and lie," Assistant US Attorney Annalise Peters said at the reality TV couple's Monday sentencing for their yearslong scheme in which they defrauded banks and the IRS to live an extravagant lifestyle.
In June, an Atlanta federal jury convicted Todd and Julie Chrisley, made famous by the USA Network reality show "Chrisley Knows Best," on a range of conspiracy and fraud charges.
At the trial, prosecutors said that when the couple realized their fraud scheme was falling apart, they attempted to put their "7C's Productions" bank account — where they were paid for their show — in Todd Chrisley's mother's name.
Faye Chrisley, who is known as Nanny Faye on the show, told prosecutors she didn't know why she was listed as the owner of the account and that she doesn't read documents before signing them.
"Honey, I had never been involved with nothing except be a signer," Faye Chrisley told Peters in June. "I have never owned it. I don't want it."
She also said after she and Julie Chrisley went to the bank to put Faye's name on the account, they returned the next day and changed it back, Peters recalled at the sentencing.
A bank employee testified at the trial that the bank never would have accepted such an altered document and that Julie Chrisley never went back to the bank the next day.
Peters also accused another witness, Donna Cash, of perjuring herself at trial.
Cash, a former employee of the couple's, testified that she sent fake financial documents to loan companies and lied about the health of the company at the direction of her boss, Mark Braddock — who eventually turned the Chrisleys in.
She stopped fabricating documents when the Chrisleys' family home was on the brink of foreclosure, she said.
"I did some bad things but that was one thing I wasn't going to do," Cash testified at trial through tears.
Peters said Cash was lying to protect Todd Chrisley, the real ringleader of the fraud, while the Chrisleys' defense attorneys countered that there is no evidence their clients told witnesses what to say.
On Monday, Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years.
They will both serve three years of supervised release after their committed time.
"Todd and Julie Chrisley are a walking crime wave," Peters told the court Monday, adding that they "lie and cheat" at every chance.
Sign up for notifications from Insider! Stay up to date with what you want to know. Subscribe to push notificationsWatch:
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufonynscOsZKyZqWLBsLDDZqGupJmaeqS00aKqpZ2pYsOqr9OipKKylZl6r63Np7BmnpGusm6t02arq6GRoXpzfJFrZGpp