Todd and Julie Chrisley were charged with several financial crimes on Tuesday. However, the reality television couple said they have "nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of."
An indictment handed down by Georgia's Northern District on Tuesday charges the "Chrisley Knows Best" couple with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion.
The Chrisleys were expecting the charges. In a lengthy Instagram post on Monday, Todd Chrisley explained how the family has been living with a "cloud" hanging over their heads for the past seven years after they had to fire an employee for stealing from them and bugging their home.
That's where the story gets even more complicated.
"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," Chrisley said.
He didn't reveal the ex-employee's name, but after they were fired, Chrisley described how the ex-employee was on an apparent mission to get revenge on the couple. The ex-employee took what Chrisley said were "a bunch of phony documents" to the U.S. Attorney's office, hoping the couple would be indicted with the sort of crimes they're now being charged with.
It turns out that didn't work the first time.
"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," Chrisley said.
The ex-employee later "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," according to Chrisley.
While the specific allegations that led to the indictment weren't immediately public, Chrisley said he wanted to make sure the couple's fans know that they're innocent and look forward to fighting the charges.
"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," he said.
When reached by TODAY on Tuesday afternoon, a representative for Chrisley had no further comment.