First, you f**k around. Then, you find out. It’s a tale as old as time, and one even the seemingly untouchable Donald Trump has had to learn in recent months. You can’t just say whatever you want about anyone you want with no consequences! That’s not what free speech means! Now that he tore a page from Trump’s playbook, Todd Chrisley must learn that lesson the hard way, too!!
Last week, a federal jury determined the Chrisley Knows Best alum did indeed defame an investigator working for the Georgia Department of Revenue during their investigation into the reality star. The investigator, Amy Doherty-Heinze, sued Todd in 2021 with claims that he had sullied her reputation during episodes of his and wife Julie Chrisley‘s then-active podcast Chrisley Confessions.
Doherty-Heinze was working at the time on a GDOR project investigating Todd and Julie for bank fraud and tax evasion. The duo was later found guilty on those charges and got shipped off to federal prison, where they are to this day. Meaning Amy’s investigation went well — but at what personal cost? He really went at her as she gathered the evidence that put him away!
Related: Todd Chrisley Said No To Doing Reality TV At First — For This Reason!
Basically, Todd took to his Chrisley Confessions podcast first in 2020, and then really aggressively in 2021, with accusations that Doherty-Heinze and the GDOR were crooked, corrupt, and out to get the Chrisley fam during their tax evasion investigation. Specifically, the investigator’s lawsuit claimed that the 55-year-old reality TV star accused her of “a multitude of crimes and wrongdoing” on his podcast, including “repeated false accusations that, among other things, [Doherty-Heinze] engaged in various acts of criminal misconduct in her post as an investigator for the Georgia Department of Revenue’s Office of Special Investigations.”
Everyone investigating him is crooked. Uh huh. Sound familiar?
Todd first tried to get the lawsuit thrown out of court back in August of 2021. But then he went on Chrisley Confessions in an episode the very next month and defamed her AGAIN! The investigator’s long-running suit referenced that repeat defamation, and added Todd later began a “social media campaign against the GDOR and certain of its employees, contending that the investigation was illegal and improperly motivated.” Finally last week, an impaneled jury in Georgia sided with Doherty-Heinze!
And according to the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, the judge ruled Todd must pay Doherty-Heinze a whopping $755,000 in compensatory and punitive damages for defaming her, as well as cover her legal fees! BAM!
Todd had to attack an innocent officer of the law — or whatever you call a revenue service investigator — and now he’s out three-quarters of a million bucks… while still languishing in federal prison.
Womp, womp!
Todd’s legal team has already responded to the jury’s defamation determination AND the judge’s ruling. Attorney Leesa Guarnotta told the Los Angeles Times:
“We 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. We are concerned about the state of the First Amendment where such a case could make it to trial in the first place. We are optimistic about our appeal.”
So, based on that statement, it sounds like there will be an appeal. Oookay. Todd has nothing but time in prison to look over legal docs, we suppose. And second, going with “hey, she only got $750k instead of 3 mil” isn’t the flex Guarnotta thinks it is! LOLz!
As for Doherty-Heinze, her legal team is “thrilled” about the ruling, per the Times. They released this statement to the newspaper:
“She has had these lies hanging over her head for four years, and it is a huge relief to her that a federal jury has finally held Todd Chrisley accountable. She is particularly appreciative that the jury found that not only were Mr. Chrisley’s statements false and defamatory, but also that he acted with actual malice and a specific intent to cause her harm. She hopes this verdict will help deter Mr. Chrisley from defaming other innocent people in the future.”
Seems like it’s time for Todd to pay up. Man, it’s gonna hurt writing that check. But as the jury determined, he did it to himself by yapping about things he shouldn’t have been on his podcast. Nobody to blame on this one but the man in the mirror, ya know?! Reactions, y’all??
[Image via Podcast One/YouTube]