Social Media Influencer Ashley Grayson Sentenced to 10 Years for Murder-for-Hire Plot

A 35-year-old American social media influencer, Ashley Grayson, who operated an online business, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted in a murder-for-hire plot.

Grayson, based in Dallas, promoted herself as a best-selling author, an eight-figure business coach, a course creator, and a philanthropist, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

In 2022, she approached a friend in Memphis and invited her to Dallas under the guise of discussing a “business opportunity.” However, Grayson proposed a sinister plan: offering $20,000 per target to kill three individuals. The intended victims included Grayson’s ex, a business rival in Mississippi, and a Texas woman who had criticized her on social media, according to Fox 4 News.

Prosecutors revealed that the Memphis couple pretended to agree to the plan but secretly recorded Grayson detailing the scheme. In the video, she offered an additional $5,000 to expedite the murder of her Mississippi competitor within a week. The couple later sent Grayson a fake video of police lights from an unrelated incident, claiming they were caught during their “attempt.” They eventually met with Grayson and accepted $10,000 for their supposed effort.

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

Grayson was found guilty of murder-for-hire and sentenced to the maximum penalty of 120 months in federal prison. She will not be eligible for parole due to the nature of the federal case.

Her husband was previously acquitted of any involvement.