Nearly two months ago, Chrisley Knows Best’s Todd and Julie Chrisley reported to their respective prison facilities to begin their sentences due to being found guilty of tax fraud and more. As of late, reports have been circulating about how the celebrity couple is fairing and how they aim to get their verdict overturned. All the while, the pair’s oldest daughter, Savannah Chrisley, has been speaking out in defense of her parents. And most recently, the media personality blamed the government for her folks’ legal woes and described seeing their reactions when they were officially deemed “guilty.”
Savannah Chrisley didn’t hold back her thoughts during her appearance on Kaitlyn Bristowe’s Off The Vine podcast. The 25-year-old media personality explained that her parents’ situation started back in 2012 and revolved around “tax evasion” and “bank fraud.” She then proceeded to mention Todd’s former business partner, Mark Braddocck (who was not explicitly named during the chat). In Savannah’s eyes, Braddock is the one at fault for having allegedly “stolen millions of dollars” from her dad’s company. She also takes issue with Braddock not having been incarcerated:
He actually signed multiple immunity deals with the government. And that’s the part that’s not in the public eye. They don’t talk about how there was a guy who signed multiple immunity deals with the government, and he lied to the government. They allowed him to resign his immunity deal, and he’s the sole person who provided them all of their evidence. And he said, ‘I did all of these things, but they were at the instruction of Mr. and Mrs. Chrisley. They knew about it.’ … During [the] trial, our attorneys looked at the FBI agent and [were] like, ‘You know, all of this evidence you’ve submitted to the court, what have you done to get it authenticated?’
Prison Bureau Responds After Savannah Chrisley Made Bold Claims About Julie's Jail Conditions
While speaking, Savannah Chrisley further alleged that the FBI agent denied having verified the evidence from Mark Braddock. Todd’s former business partner was the person who turned the Chrisleys over to the bureau for the reported financial misdeeds. Braddock made a number of major accusations against his former colleague but notably made headlines after alleging that he and Todd had a gay affair in the early 2000s. He also claimed that he and Chrisley paid $38,000 to a blackmailer who purportedly threatened to expose them. Todd vehemently denied Braddock’s account and, in one of his last podcast episodes, he referred to the money manager as a “toad,” among other things.
Julie and Todd Chrisley’s daughter continued to be just as raw during her own recent podcast discussion. When reflecting on seeing her parents’ faces as the verdict was read, she described it as a moment she “will never forget”:
I will never forget the moment, sitting in that courtroom every day, a four-week trial, every single day. And it took three days for the verdict to come back, and some of the questions the jurors asked were appalling to me. … I will never forget when they stood up to read the verdicts, it was like, guilty, guilty, guilty, like over and over and over again. And I just saw the looks on my parents’ faces and just everything… They were just in tears. Because we were not expecting that, we were like, ‘There’s no way.'
All in all, Savannah Chrisley believes that her parents are “100%” not guilty and believes that the imprisoned couple were meant to serve as an example to other celebrities who allegedly believe they’re above the law. Reports indicate that Todd and Juie also believe their sentence is unfair. As Savannah mentioned, the Chrisleys are appealing this month, and their family attorney, Alex Little is “optimistic” about their chances. Little argues that the case was “marred by serious and repeated errors.” He also says that the government was “lying to jurors about what taxes the couple paid.”
Unless the family gets its way, Todd Chrisley will continue to serve his 12-year sentence, while Julie will remain in prison for seven years. Both were each handed 16 months of probation as well. Savannah – who currently has custody of 16-year-old brother Grayson and 10-year-old niece Chloe, seems confident that her folks will claim victory. And until that happens, it’s likely that she’ll continue to speak in favor of them.
