An influencer has been jailed for a decade after offering a hitman $60,000 to murder three people, including a social media rival and her boyfriend.
Texas-based content creator Ashley Grayson, 35, ran a successful Internet business from her home in Dallas and was a self-proclaimed best-seller, course creator and philanthropist, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.
Grayson, who claimed to also be an eight-figure business advisor, had contacted a potential hitman in 2022, who was actually a friend whom he had offered to fly to Dallas with his husband, simply telling them it was an “opportunity.” of business”.
This proposal would turn out to be the social media star asking her friend and her husband to kill three people for $20,000 a hit, Fox 4 News reported.
The three people included on Grayson’s murder list were her ex, a rival who ran a company similar to her in Mississippi, and a Texas woman who had made negative posts about her on social media, prosecutors said.
“This was a 21st century crime where online disputes and senseless rivalries spilled over into the real world,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren.
‘The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman because of things that happened exclusively on the Internet.
‘Fortunately, no one was physically injured in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as a result of the defendant’s actions.
Texas influencer Ashley Grayson was sentenced to 10 years in prison after hiring a hitman, who turned out to be her friend, to kill three people for $60,000.
The content creator and business owner set out to kill her ex-boyfriend, a business rival and a woman who made negative comments about her online.
Grayson, 35, will not be eligible for parole since it was a federal case
Grayson was sentenced to 120 months in prison, the maximum sentence allowed for her crime, and three years of supervised release.
“The proactive response of the investigative agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring.”
The Memphis couple pretended to agree to the plan, but instead gave police a video of Grayson saying he would pay them an additional $5,000 to kill the Mississippi woman within a week.
The pair later sent Grayson a clip of police lights from another related incident, claiming they had attempted to carry out the murder but were caught.
They later met with the content creator and received $10,000 for their “attempt,” prosecutors added.
In July 2023, a Tennessee grand jury indicted Grayson and her husband on charges of using an interstate facility to commit murder for hire.
The case went to trial in March of this year, where a jury found Grayson guilty but acquitted her husband, Joshua.
Last month, Grayson was sentenced to 120 months in prison, the maximum sentence allowed for her crime, and three years of supervised release.
The business owner, with more than 1,500 followers on social media, will not be eligible for parole since this is a federal case.
Special Agent in Charge Joe Carrico of the FBI’s Nashville Field Office, Memphis Resident Agency, said: ‘This murder-for-hire plot underscores the strength of joint federal law enforcement efforts to ensure the safety of citizens. of our community.
“This sentencing demonstrates the commitment of the FBI and our partners to investigating violent crimes and rooting out those who seek to take advantage of the public.”