Chrisley Knows Best stars Todd and Julie Chrisley are moving out of their $3.4 million house today and into a federal prison.
Todd, 54, who touted himself on the show as a multimillionaire real-estate developer and claimed to make “millions of dollars a year,†along with his wife, Julie, 50, are due to report to begin their 12- and seven-year federal sentences, respectively, on January 17 after being convicted of failing to report that money to the IRS. Todd must turn himself in to the Federal Correctional Institution in Pensacola, Florida, a minimum-security facility. Julie must also surrender herself today, but to the federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky — an administrative-security federal medical center with an adjacent minimum-security satellite camp — more than 600 miles away.
Less than a week before he was set to report to prison, the devout Christian reality-TV stars went on their podcast, Chrisley Confessions, to offer some advice and perspective. “I do feel that there is a calling on our family. We are going through a lot of heartache right now, a lot of hurt, but the valley that we are in, we won’t stay in forever — and what I do know is that I’m going to keep standing,†Todd said. “You’re going to keep standing, Julie. Our family is going to keep standing, and by the grace of God, we will walk through this storm.†Julie lashed out on the podcast, accusing others in her inner circle of giving them a “Judas kiss†and being out to destroy them.
“It’s what we get from someone who doesn’t have our purest intention, somebody who is in our inner circle who is ultimately trying to destroy us, someone who we think is our friend, we think is a co-worker, with someone who we think is rooting for us and, really, they are trying to destroy us,†she claimed.
In November, a jury convicted them of “conspiring to defraud community banks out of more than $30 million of fraudulent loans†and “conspiring to defraud the IRS,†according to the Department of Justice’s office in Atlanta. Todd must also pay $17 million in restitution and submit to three years of supervised monitoring upon his release, according to a probation report.
Not wanting to leave their fate in the hands of a higher power, a week before they were scheduled to turn themselves in, the Chrisleys filed a desperate plea to remain out on bail pending the appeal of their sentences. But U.S. district judge Elizabeth Branch crushed their prayers and denied their request.
Instead of hanging out on the golf course, Todd’s new daily prison routine may look something like this: Wake up at 4:45 a.m., followed by breakfast at 5 a.m., then report to work until lunch at 11 a.m. Then it’s more work details, dinner at 4:30 p.m., and lights-out at 10:30 p.m. Julie will have to forget about snacking on her homemade trifles and satisfy her sweet tooth with candy from the prison commissary.
The Chrisleys tried to enjoy their last days of freedom together. They were photographed having a family meal at a Mexican restaurant in Nashville with Todd’s mother, Faye; son Chase, 26; and his daughters: Savannah, 25, and Chloe, 10. Julie was seen grocery shopping. His children posted messages of support: Savannah wrote, “I love you daddy â¤ï¸,†and his son Kyle, 31, wrote, “I love you daddy this isn’t over.â€
“HE is always on time … #fightthegoodfight,†Todd posted on Instagram hours before turning himself in. And they were on time, in the end, surrendering themselves to their respective federal prisons right at deadline.