⚖️ Todd and Julie Chrisley convicted of bank fraud, then pardoned

A federal jury in Atlanta found Todd and Julie Chrisley guilty on June 7, 2022, of conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million in fraudulent loans, along with tax crimes, the Associated Press reported. Less than three years later, a president pardoned them. Between those two dates sits a very orderly paper trail.

The loans

Prosecutors said during the trial that the couple and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area, spent the proceeds on luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, and used new loans to pay off old ones, per the AP. The New York Times, citing prosecutors, put the window at about 2007 to 2012, with phony personal financial statements and fabricated bank statements. Prosecutors said Todd Chrisley then filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.

The defense told a different story. Their lawyers said in a 2019 statement that a disgruntled former employee had fabricated the documents behind the indictment. That former partner, Mark Braddock, testified under immunity and admitted creating fake documents to send to banks, Business Insider reported; Todd Chrisley's attorney, Bruce Morris, argued that emails in the case could have been sent by Braddock. The jury convicted on all counts anyway.

"We have nothing to hide and have done nothing to be ashamed of"

Todd Chrisley, in an August 2019 Instagram post, quoted by People

The IRS

On the tax side, prosecutors said the couple failed to file returns or pay taxes for several years, even though Todd Chrisley had claimed on a radio program that he paid $750,000 to $1 million a year in federal income taxes, per the AP. The Times, citing prosecutors, put the non-filing at 2013 to 2016.

Business Insider's courtroom reporting, as summarized by Yahoo Entertainment, said the couple made $6 million from the show in those years, paid to their company 7C's Productions and not declared on federal returns. Prosecutors said the company's bank accounts were kept in Julie Chrisley's name to avoid collection of half a million dollars in back taxes that Todd Chrisley owed, then moved to his mother when the IRS asked about them, per the AP. People reported in 2012 that his bankruptcy filing listed a delinquent IRS bill of almost $600,000.

A separate Georgia state tax case ended differently. Per Yahoo Entertainment, citing WXIA, the $2.1 million state charge was settled after it emerged the couple had overpaid in several years; they agreed to pay just under $150,000 for the one year they owed.

Sentences and restitution

At the Nov. 21, 2022 sentencing, Todd Chrisley received 12 years and Julie Chrisley seven, each plus 16 months of probation, per People. Prosecutors had asked for 17 to 22 years for Todd and 10 to 13 for Julie, according to court documents obtained by WAGA. The Washington Post quoted Judge Ross on the way out.

"I cannot ignore the greed and flamboyance in this case."

U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross at the Chrisleys' sentencing, per The Washington Post

Deadline reported that Chrisley Knows Best and the spinoff Growing Up Chrisley were canceled, noting there was no official word from NBCUniversal.

On appeal, the 11th Circuit upheld the convictions on June 21, 2024, but found Ross had held Julie Chrisley responsible for the whole bank fraud scheme starting in 2006 without specific evidence, and sent her sentence back for recalculation, per the AP. The defense argument that an IRS officer had lied at trial failed. On Sept. 25, 2024, Ross reimposed seven years and said restitution now stood at $4.7 million, down from $17.8 million, per the AP. Julie Chrisley told the court she apologized for her actions.

The pardon

On May 27, 2025, Trump told the Chrisleys' daughter in a call released by a White House aide, 'Your parents are going to be free and clean,' per the AP. White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement that the sentences were 'far too harsh.' The Chrisleys' attorney, Alex Little, said the pardon 'corrects a deep injustice' and that the pair were targeted over 'conservative values and high profile.'

The Post noted that the charges were federal, filed under a U.S. attorney appointed by Trump, in answer to the family's claim of persecution by Fulton County prosecutors. ABC News reported the couple was released from Bureau of Prisons custody after a White House official confirmed the pardon.