Influencer Sentenced to 10 Years for Hiring Hitman to Kill Online Rival
Social media influencer Ashley Grayson offered a woman $60,000 total to kill an internet business rival, ex-boyfriend and detractor in 2022.
Business competition on the internet can be fierce. One social media influencer, Ashley Grayson, took her role overboard when she reportedly recruited a woman to kill her internet rival and ex-boyfriend for $40,000 total in a murder-for-hire plot.
Grayson, who lived in Dallas at the time of the hiring, was convicted of a murder-for-hire plot and sentenced to ten years in federal prison, per a November 18 press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Western District of Tennessee.
Grayson invited a Memphis woman she had previously worked with to fly to Dallas just two years before, in August 2022, to meet and discuss a "business opportunity." In early September 2022, the Memphis woman and her husband traveled to Dallas to meet Grayson and her spouse, Joshua Grayson. The woman influencer of Southaven, Mississippi, who Grayson was feuding with, Grayson's ex-boyfriend, and a Texas woman who had made disparaging remarks about Grayson on social media, were the three individuals whom Grayson offered to pay the Memphis couple to murder. For Grayson, each of these murders was worth $20,000 apiece.
Grayson requested that the Mississippi woman be killed as soon as possible during a video call that was recorded with the Memphis couple, of which she offered them $5,000 to have it done in a week. The couple would ultimately use images of a police car from an unrelated event, persuading Grayson that they had tried to conduct the murder-for-hire scheme but failed. They flew to Dallas to meet with Grayson and her husband and wanted half of the agreed cash, to which $10,000 was given for the made-up effort.
In July 2023, a grand jury indicted Grayson and her husband, but Joshua Grayson was acquitted. In October, Ashley Grayson received the maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. She will also serve three years of supervised release after completing her sentence. Since this is a federal case, Grayson is not eligible for parole.
Grayson's feud with her Mississippi-based internet rival began in 2021 after the latter began an online business with similarities to Grayson's. On her Instagram account, Grayson identified herself as a philanthropist, course creator, eight-figure business coach, and best-selling author.
