Texas influencer Ashley Grayson has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for attempting to hire someone to murder three people- including a business rival and someone who trashed her on social media, the New York Post reported.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee, Grayson, 35, gained fame on social media for her online business and courses teaching others how to monetize their skills.
Acting U.S. Attorney Reagan Fondren announced on Monday, Nov. 18, that Grayson was found guilty of a murder-for-hire conspiracy.
The press release revealed that in September 2022, Grayson offered to pay a Memphis-based couple to kill three targets: her ex-boyfriend, a woman who had criticized her on social media, and a Mississippi woman with a similar business model. Grayson believed the latter had created fake profiles to disparage her work online.
The Tennessee U.S. Attorney's Office reported that "Grayson valued each of these killings at no less than $20,000." During a recorded video call with the Memphis couple, Grayson expressed urgency in targeting the Mississippi woman, offering an additional $5,000 if the murder was carried out within a week.
Using photos of police cars from an unrelated incident, the couple falsely claimed they had attempted the murder-for-hire. They demanded half the agreed payment and travelled to Dallas to meet Grayson and her husband, ultimately receiving $10,000 for their fabricated "attempt."
In July 2023, a grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee indicted Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson, on a single count of "Use of Interstate Facility in Commission of Murder-for-Hire," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office press release. On Oct. 31, 2024, United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker sentenced Grayson to the maximum penalty of 120 months in prison.
"This was a twenty-first-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world," said Fondren, as quoted in the press release. "The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet."
He continued, "Fortunately, no one was physically hurt in this case, but the victim and her family still felt a severe and emotional impact as the result of the defendant's actions. The proactive response from the investigating agencies and our prosecutors prevented an even more serious crime from occurring."
