Why are Savannah Chrisley’s parents in prison? Conviction explained

Former reality star Savannah Chrisley spoke at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday to support Donald Trump—and she also took the opportunity to criticize prosecutors in her parents’ trial, claiming that her parents were “persecuted” due to their “public profile and conservative beliefs.”

Savannah Chrisley first gained recognition from the USA Network reality show Chrisley Knows Best. The show revolved around her father, Todd Chrisley, a real estate tycoon in Georgia, her mother Julie Chrisley and their five children. In 2022, the couple was convicted of bank fraud and other financial crimes and Savannah Chrisley has publicly advocated for them ever since.

On Tuesday night, speakers discussed crime, illegal immigration and law enforcement protection, as the focus of the evening was “Make America Safe Again.” Savannah Chrisley spoke during the prime time slot and shared her family’s experience with the law, claiming that her perceived unjust treatment of her parents was comparable to that of Trump, following his conviction on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels.

Journalist and author Greg Bluestein shared a snippet of Savannah Chrisley’s speech to X, formerly Twitter.

“I’ll never forget what the prosecutor said at the most heavy Democrat county in the state, before an Obama-appointed judge—he called us the Trumps of the south. Now, hey it’s fine, he meant it as an insult but let me tell ya, I wear it as a badge of honor,” she said in the video online.

Reality star Savannah Chrisley is framing her family as victims of a politicized prosecution at the RNC. Her parents were convicted in 2022 on federal fraud and tax evasion charges, but she brings up Fulton County to get easy jeers from the crowd. #gapol pic.twitter.com/wtENa2R48n

— Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) July 17, 2024

However, Bluestein was critical of Savannah Chrisley’s framing of the situation, writing: “Reality star Savannah Chrisley is framing her family as victims of a politicized prosecution at the RNC. Her parents were convicted in 2022 on federal fraud and tax evasion charges, but she brings up Fulton County to get easy jeers from the crowd.”

He added: “Although Chrisley blamed Democrats in Fulton County for her parents’ legal troubles, they were found guilty in an Atlanta-based federal court. Also, the couple was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2019, when Trump was president.”

Savannah Chrisley’s parents were indicted by a federal grand jury in 2019 and after a nearly three-week trial, they were convicted in a federal court in Georgia on June 7, 2022.

Newsweek emailed a spokesperson for Savannah Chrisley for comment on Wednesday.

Chrisley’s parents reported to different prisons on January 17, 2023, after a court found they took more than $36 million in fraudulent bank loans to fund their extravagant lifestyle.

The couple was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and to defraud the U.S., while Julie was also convicted of wire fraud and obstruction of justice charges. Todd Chrisley was originally sentenced to 12 years, while Julie Chrisley received a seven-year prison sentence for tax evasion and bank fraud. Both also received three years of supervised release.

Since then, the couple’s sentences were shortened by the Federal Bureau of Prisons on September 8, 2023.

However, in a recent development, Julie Chrisley is waiting to be resentenced after an appeals court determined that there was insufficient evidence to prove she had participated in a bank fraud scheme when it first began in 2006.

Savannah Chrisley is hopeful that her mom will be out of prison by Thanksgiving.

“Now we sit and wait, hopefully, no more than 90 days to go for that hearing … hopefully she comes home. If she comes home, oh my gosh! Life will be so much better,” she said on the July 2 episode of her Unlocked podcast.

“I’m making it my goal that by Thanksgiving, she’s home.”

The reality star added: “And then I’ll have time to truly focus on all of dad’s stuff. This really wasn’t—people view it as a loss for dad. But in the grand scheme of things, when you read through it, the Appeals Court gave us a very solid case for an effective counsel by saying trial lawyers should have done XY and Z.

“They should have objected, they should have filed the motion timely, for some reason they decided to file it two years after the deadline.”

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