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Real estate entrepreneur and reality TV personality Todd Chrisley and his wife, Julie Chrisley, have been pardoned by President Trump.
The couple, who became famous for the USA Network reality TV show Chrisley Knows Best, were convicted in 2022 on charges of bank and tax fraud after it was discovered they conspired to defraud Atlanta-area banks out of more than $30 million in loans by submitting false documents, and committed nearly $500,000 in tax evasion while brandishing their lavish lifestyle on TV. The couple also failed to file tax returns and pay taxes for the years 2013 through 2016.
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When the charade became too much to keep up, Todd Chrisley filed for bankruptcy and “walked away from more than $20 million of the fraudulently obtained loans,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in 2022 after the couple’s conviction.
President Trump announced his intentions to pardon the couple in a call with their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, a video of which was posted on social media by a White House aide on Tuesday. The president then signed their pardons on Wednesday, opening a pathway for them to be released from prison.
Todd Chrisley has been serving a 12-year sentence in Florida at the FPC Pensacola minimum-security men’s federal prison since January 2023, and was scheduled for release in April 2032. Julie has been serving a 7-year sentence at the FMC Lexington prison in Kentucky, and was scheduled to be released in January 2028. In addition to their prison sentences, the couple were also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
In the video posted online on Tuesday, Trump said to Savannah Chrisley, “Your parents are going to be free and clean and I hope that we can do it by tomorrow.”
“They’ve been given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I’m hearing,” Trump later added.
Savannah posted on Instagram on Wednesday a photo of the president with a pair of signed documents in the Oval Office and 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.”
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Attorney Alex Little, who is representing the Chrisleys, said in a statement on Tuesday that the pardon “corrects a deep injustice” in which the couple were “targeted because of their conservative values and high profile.”
The move was another example of President Trump pardoning those he views as his allies, friends, donors and supporters. This week, Trump also pardoned Scott Jenkins, a former Virginia sheriff who had been sentenced to prison for 10 years on fraud and bribery charges.
Last month, the president likewise signed a pardon for former nursing home executive Paul Walczak after Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended a $1 million-per-person fundraising dinner hosted by President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Walczak had pled guilty to tax crimes shortly after the 2024 election, and submitted a pardon application right around Inauguration Day. Prior to the pardon being signed, Walczak was on track to pay $4.4 million in restitution and serve an 18-month prison sentence.
