A Texas social media influencer, Ashley Grayson, known on social media for her 8-figure business coaching, credit fixing, course creation, and philanthropy, was sentenced to 120 months (10 years) in prison for planning a murder for hire on her ex-boyfriend, Patrick Tate, a Southhaven, Mississippi woman who ran a similar business to Grayson, and a Texas woman who made a negative social media post about the 35-year-old.
According to the Dept. of Justice’s press release dated on Nov. 18, 2024, Grayson invited a Memphis woman with whom she had previously collaborated to fly to Dallas to discuss a “business opportunity” in August 2022.
A month later, the Memphis woman and her husband flew to Dallas to meet Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson.
During the meeting, Grayson offered to pay the couple to assassinate a woman from Southaven, Mississippi, who owned a competing business to Grayson’s. Grayson had a falling out with the businesswoman the previous year in 2021. Although she never met the Southaven businesswoman, Grayson suspected the woman of creating fake online profiles that criticized her and her company.
The Memphis woman, whom Grayson had ordered to do the murder for hire, recorded a video call on September 10, 2022, of Grayson confirming that she wanted the Southaven woman killed as soon as possible. Grayson proposed an extra $5,000 as payment for completing the murder the following week.
Grayson offered a total of $60,000 ($20,000 for each hit) to those who try to ruin her business reputation, which also included Grayson’s ex-boyfriend and the Texas woman who made a negative social media post about Grayson.
No one carried out the murder for hire. Little did Grayson know, the Memphis couple deceived Grayson into getting money from her.
They sent her a photo of police lights from an “unrelated incident,” claiming it was the scene of an attempted murder, but in actuality it was fake. The couple then demanded $10,000 (some of the offered money) from Grayson for their supposed effort. Grayson ultimately paid them the money.
The Memphis couple reported the incident to law enforcement. In July 2023, a grand jury in the Western District of Tennessee delivered a “one-count indictment against Ashley Grayson and her husband, Joshua Grayson, for using an interstate commerce facility (like phones, emails, the internet, or transportation across state lines) to plan a murder.
Grayson’s ex-boyfriend, Tate, discussed the murder-for-hire attempt on his life with social media influencer Tasha K a year ago, by Grayson and his reaction to the hit.
Ashley Grayson was sentenced to 120 months in prison on Oct. 31, 2024, by United States District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker. The grand jury cleared Grayson’s husband, Joshua, of all charges and related charges.
Acting U.S. Attorney Fondren said the following message in a statement when he was assigned the case:
“This was a twenty-first century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world. The defendant tried to hire someone to murder a woman over things that happened exclusively on the internet.”
“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.”
