PENSACOLA, Fla. — On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed pardons for reality television personalities Julie and Todd Chrisley, who had been serving time in federal prison for convictions related to bank fraud and tax evasion from three years ago.
With Trump’s pardons, the couple, famous for their TV show “Chrisley Knows Best,” are now set to be released from prison. Todd Chrisley, 57, was held at a minimum security prison camp located in Pensacola, Florida, while Julie Chrisley, 52, was serving her sentence at a facility in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Chrisleys’ show depicted them as a tightly bonded family living an opulent lifestyle. Prosecutors asserted at their 2022 trial that the couple lived extravagantly, purchasing luxury cars, designer clothing, real estate, and travel, all while securing millions in fraudulent bank loans and evading tax payments by concealing their income from authorities.
Trump announced his intention to pardon the Chrisleys on Tuesday, saying the celebrity couple had been “given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I’m hearing.” It was another example of the president, himself a former reality TV star, pardoning high-profile friends, supporters, donors and former staffers.
The Chrisleys’ daughter, Savannah, posted Wednesday afternoon on Instagram a photo of Trump in the Oval Office holding one of a pair of signed documents. She wrote: “God is still writing your story. He’s Not Late. He’s Not Distant. HE’S NOT DONE, & What is coming is MORE than you could’ve imagined.”
The Chrisleys’ attorney, Alex Little, said Tuesday that Trump’s pardon “corrects a deep injustice” in which the celebrity couple were “targeted because of their conservative values and high profile.”
Before she was pardoned, Julie Chrisley had been scheduled for release in January 2028, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website. Todd Chrisley was to remain imprisoned until September 2032.
During the couple’s trial, prosecutors said the Chrisleys hadn’t yet become TV stars when they and a former business partner submitted false documents to banks in the Atlanta area to obtain fraudulent loans. New loans were taken out to pay off the old ones, according to prosecutors, until Todd Chrisley filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in unpaid loans.
The Chrisleys’ defense attorneys had argued that an IRS officer gave false testimony at their trial and that prosecutors lacked evidence to support convictions.
A panel of judges of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Chrisleys’ convictions last year.
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