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The journey to freedom for former reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, from Chrisley Knows Best, ended with a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. It’s been a hard fight for their legal team and their daughter, Savannah Chrisley. Read on to see how the outcome came about.
The Conviction: Fraud and Tax Evasion
In 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were convicted by a federal jury in Atlanta on charges including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and tax evasion. Julie Chrisley was also convicted of obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors alleged that the couple conspired to defraud banks out of millions of dollars by submitting false documents to secure loans and lines of credit. Additionally, they stood accused of concealing income from the IRS.
Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. Meanwhile, Julie received a 7-year sentence. The mom and dad of Savannah, Grayson, Chase, and Chloe Chrisley were also hit with a restitution order of $17.8 million.
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They started serving their sentences in January 2023, though they got some reduced time for good behavior.
The Appeals Process: A Glimmer of Hope
The appeals process takes time, so the legal team immediately petitioned for a hearing. While it didn’t benefit Todd much, a panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges upheld their convictions but noted a legal error in the calculation of Julie’s original sentence.
The trial judge was found to have erred in holding Julie accountable for the entire bank fraud scheme dating back to 2006. So, the court ordered that her case be sent back to a lower court for resentencing. Todd’s appeal, however, was denied. Savannah was devastated by the outcome, as he mom’s sentence wasn’t reduced.
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Legal Help
Their legal team, including attorney Alex Little of Litson PLLC, argued against the convictions, citing alleged misconduct by federal prosecutors. He also talked about an unconstitutional search and compromised evidence. Another attorney, Jay Surgent, also represented Todd Chrisley.
Savannah also took her fight for the release of her parents to social media, mainstream media like Fox News, and elsewhere. She never stopped believing that her mom and dad were overly sentenced for white collar crimes they didn’t commit.
The Road to Pardon: Savannah
Savannah led a public campaign to obtain a presidential pardon for her parents. She was also helped by legal representation. Notably, she spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention (RNC) and claimed that Todd and Julie Chrisley were “politically targeted.”
She told her audience that the prosecution was biased against their TV fame and conservative stance. At the same time, she also took up the fight for justice for others whom she felt were unfairly imprisoned, and raised a lot of noise about poor prison conditions.
Clearly, she caught the eye of President Donald Trump as she spent months going back and forth to the White House and Mar-a-Lago. Lara Trump’s My View on Fox also helped to grow her influence.
The Pardon Clears The Conviction
Trump granted full pardons to Todd and Julie Chrisley this week. On Instagram, Savannah told her followers that he personally called her to tell her about his decision. It means that their convictions are now squashed, as are the financial penalties. Their legal representative noted that the pardon corrected a “deep injustice.”
Let us know your thoughts about Todd and Julie getting a full pardon, and come back here for all your celebrity justice news and updates.