After much speculation regarding their incarcerations, Todd and Julie Chrisley were pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in late May. The longtime reality TV stars were found guilty of bank fraud, tax evasion and other reported offenses. During their prison stints, one of the people who consistently spoke on their behalf was one of their attorneys, Jay Surgent. Now that his clients have been released, it seems Surgent is seeing an uptick in business, and he’s opening up about it.
Jay Surgent currently serves as one of the partners at the New Jersey-based Weiner Law Group LLP. Over the past few years, a sizable portion of his work has seemingly related to his dealings with the Chrisleys. Surgent caught up with The New York Post and explained that he could be quite busy for the foreseeable future. With his celebrity clients now out from behind bars, it would appear that other people are reaching out in the hopes that Surgent can help secure pardons for people they know:
My business has been great. I’m looking at eight major cases that came in from across the United States by the sheer fact that my name was mentioned many times with the Chrisleys.
The past few years have seen Jay Surgent share various updates on the Chrisleys. In 2024, he was particularly vocal about the situation swirling around Julie, whose conviction was overturned. At that time, Surgent expressed hope about his client returning home. The situation changed, however, when Julie’s original sentence was reinstated and Surgent had to get real about next steps.
At this point, Surgent finds himself in a situation where he’s received “three to five hundred emails a day.” He also explained to the post what else has changed in regard to how he communicates with potential clients:
I think I’ve got to get a new cell phone. This is ridiculous…. I could be on the phone two o’clock in the morning making phone calls for people that have literally sent me out packets saying, ‘This is my uncle’s federal case, they’re away, and please do this.'
When it comes to the pardons, it was reported around this past February that Julie and Todd Chrisley were hoping to receive pardons from the president. The couple’s oldest daughter, Savannah, also seemed bullish about that as she continued to advocate for their release. As Savannah has explained, she worked with “presidential pardon czar” Alice Marie Johnson to facilitate her parents’ release. Once it happened, Savannah confirmed the news via a video shared to social media.
Alice Marie Johnson advised the Chrisleys to take it easy before reintegrating themselves into society, but all signs seem to point to them joining their family’s new reality TV show. The former Chrisley Knows Best stars are set to headline a new series at Lifetime, which was originally set to partially focus on Todd and Julie’s absence from their kids’ lives. Now that they’re out of prison, it’s been reported that the show is “evolving” accordingly.
Jay Surgent, meanwhile, can’t thank his clients enough for the way in which they’ve “helped’ his career. He went on to say that the Chrisleys continue to “market the hell out of” him. Although Surgent does emphasize that other clients’ chances of receiving pardons like the Chrisleys aren’t as high, his comments suggest that he’s ready to take on cases as they come.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
