Social media influencer sentenced to 10-years in prison

A Texas-based social media influencer who operated an online business has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being convicted in a murder-for-hire scheme.

Ashley Grayson, 35, ran a well-known internet business from her home in Dallas, where she promoted herself as a bestselling author, eight-figure business coach, course creator and philanthropist, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

Court records show that in 2022, Grayson contacted a friend living in Memphis and invited her to travel to Dallas under the guise of discussing a “business opportunity.” During that meeting, she allegedly proposed that the friend and her husband kill three people in exchange for $20,000 per target, Fox 4 News reported.

The individuals she wanted killed included her former partner, a rival who operated a similar online business in Mississippi, and a Texas woman who had made negative comments about her on social media, prosecutors said.

“This was a 21st-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” acting US Attorney Reagan Fondren said.
“The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet.”

Instead of going through with the plan, the Memphis couple pretended to accept the offer and secretly recorded Grayson. They later handed over a video in which she was heard offering an additional $5,000 to ensure the Mississippi woman was killed within a week.

The couple later sent Grayson a video showing police lights from an unrelated incident, falsely claiming they had attempted the murder but were arrested. Prosecutors said they later met with Grayson, who paid them $10,000 for the supposed “attempt.”

Grayson was eventually found guilty of murder-for-hire and sentenced to the maximum term of 120 months in federal prison.

Because the case was handled at the federal level, she will not be eligible for parole. Her husband was previously acquitted and cleared of any involvement in the plot…CONTINUE MORE READING>>>