What’s going on now with the Chrisleys?

When USA Network began to air “Chrisley Knows Best” five years ago, the official logline wouldn’t have seemed out of the ordinary for a reality series of the familial kind.

“Multimillionaire real estate developer and entrepreneur Todd Chrisley, his wife Julie, and their children are a picture-perfect Southern clan who have everything money can buy,” it reads. “But behind their over-the-top lifestyle lies a real family with real problems and major drama.”

What was once intended to describe things like the family patriarch’s “unorthodox parenting style,” as Variety deemed it in a review, takes on a whole new meaning these days. The Chrisleys’ drama now involves a federal grand jury indicting Todd, 51, and Julie, 46, on counts of tax evasion and fraud. (They say they are not guilty.)

There’s a whole lot more to it than that, of course – including a family spat involving Todd’s daughter Lindsie Chrisley Campbell, who left the show after its fifth season. Let’s break it down.

Who are the Chrisleys?

The show, which just finished airing the first half of its seventh season in July, describes Todd as a “real estate mogul.” He is Faye’s son, Julie’s husband and the father of five children: Lindsie, the eldest, who frequently butted heads with him and is now estranged from the family; Kyle, a recovering addict who recently mended his fractured relationship with Todd; Chase, an athlete considered to be the favorite child; Savannah, a beauty pageant competitor; and Grayson, the youngest. Lindsie and Kyle – who are Todd’s children with his ex-wife, Teresa Terry – each has a child. Todd and Julie took in Kyle’s daughter, Chloe, as he focused on bettering his health. Chase and Savannah have a spinoff series called “Growing Up Chrisley,” set in Los Angeles.

If we were to quote Wikipedia – a cardinal sin, yes, but too good not to share in this case – we would also tell you that Todd, who can “sometimes get quite angry, especially at his son Chase,” is also “a germophobe who tries to avoid things like dirt and animals.” The site says Julie “enjoys cooking.”

The Chrisleys moved from Georgia to Tennessee a few years ago. In May, Southern Living published a feature on their sprawling mansion in Brentwood, a suburb of Nashville. Julie bought the 11,000-square-foot property in early April for nearly $3.38 million, according to Realtor.com.

Why were Todd and Julie indicted?

Public questioning of the Chrisleys’ finances predates news of the indictment, as evidenced by this Atlanta Journal-Constitution headline from February 2017: “Todd Chrisley may now live in Nashville but WSB-TV questions non-payment of Georgia taxes.” A story published in March 2014, the month their reality series premiered, introduced Todd as “a perfectionist with skeletons in his closet.”

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Georgia announced Tuesday that a federal grand jury had indicted Todd and Julie on 12 counts of bank and wire fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy. The charges concern a period of time lasting from roughly 2007 to 2012, during which the Chrisleys allegedly provided banks with falsified bank and financial statements to secure multimillion-dollar loans. The indictment also alleges that the Chrisleys sent fabricated documents to a property owner to rent a California home, and that they missed several deadlines for paying income taxes and filing returns.

“Celebrities face the same justice that everyone does,” U.S. Attorney Byung Pak said in a statement. “These are serious federal charges and they will have their day in court.”

The Associated Press reported Wednesday that Todd and Julie had pleaded not guilty to the charges, and were released on a $100,000 unsecured bond.

Was anyone else involved?

The indictment also lists the Chrisleys’ accountant, Peter Tarantino, as having been charged on tax-related offenses. He’s accused of hiding income, lying about tax returns, and lying to FBI and IRS agents about the Chrisleys’ finances.

Have the Chrisleys commented on this at all?

Todd posted a lengthy statement to Instagram ahead of the indictment on Tuesday, blaming a former employee for instigating the impending legal fiasco. He stated that there had been “a cloud hanging over Julie and me and our entire family for the past seven years,” and that a “trusted employee” had been stealing from them, creating fake documents and forging their signatures, in addition to bugging their home. That employee took the documents to the U.S. attorney’s office, Todd alleged, and “told them we had committed all kinds of financial crimes, like tax evasion and bank fraud.”