Influencer sentenced to 10 years in prison for murder-for-hire plot against online rival

An influencer has received a 10-year prison sentence after hiring someone to kill their online rival.

The shocking murder-for-hire plot began in August 2022, when the 35-year-old Texan social media influencer Ashley Grayson asked a woman she had worked with before to fly to Dallas to talk about a “business opportunity”.

The following month, the woman and her husband did just that and met with Grayson and her husband.

It was there that she is said to have asked the couple to kill her former boyfriend, as well as an online rival, and another woman who had criticised her online. Grayson offered the pair $20,000 each in exchange.

In another video call that was recorded, Grayson reiterated she wanted her online rival killed immediately and even offered an extra $5,000 for it to be done within the week.

The beef between Grayson and her rival, who resides in Mississippi, began when the rival started an online shop which was similar to hers, in 2021.

In July 2023, Grayson and her husband were indicted for the murder-for-hire plot, but the latter was acquitted. Grayson was found guilty and received a 10-year sentence – the maximum penalty allowed.

“This was a twenty-first-century crime where online feuds and senseless rivalries bled into the real world,” attorney Reagan Fondren said. “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.”

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