Todd and Julie Chrisley
Introduction
Todd Chrisley, 57, and Julie Chrisley, 53, the married stars of the USA Network reality series “Chrisley Knows Best,” were convicted by an Atlanta federal jury in June 2022 of conspiring to defraud banks out of tens of millions of dollars in loans and of a string of tax crimes . They were sentenced that November — twelve years for Todd, seven for Julie — and reported to federal prison in January 2023 . President Trump pardoned both in May 2025, freeing them the same day, but a newly reported federal tax lien now documents $1,571,452 in unpaid IRS assessments the couple still carries .
Background Information
Prosecutors said at trial that the Chrisleys and a business partner submitted false bank statements and other records to Atlanta-area banks to obtain more than $36 million in personal loans, spent the money on luxury cars and travel, and later defrauded the IRS by evading collection of $500,000 in taxes owed by Todd while earning millions from their TV show — including failing to file returns or pay any taxes for tax years 2013 through 2016 . The couple sought pardons from Trump beginning in February 2025, with daughter Savannah Chrisley campaigning for their release and speaking at the Republican National Convention that summer .
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted; pardoned; the tax bill outlived the pardon. A federal jury found both Chrisleys guilty of bank fraud and tax crimes in 2022, and the Eleventh Circuit upheld the convictions. Trump’s 2025 pardon erased their sentences — but a new $1.57 million IRS lien documents the tax debt still standing. Both maintained their innocence throughout, and neither responded to Page Six’s request for comment on the lien.
At their 2022 trial, prosecutors told an Atlanta jury that the couple built a years-long scheme: false documents submitted to banks for more than $36 million in loans, new loans taken to pay off old ones, and the proceeds spent on an extravagant lifestyle of luxury cars, designer clothes, real estate and travel, with prosecutors alleging the pair later defrauded the IRS — evading collection of $500,000 in taxes Todd owed while raking in millions from their TV show, and failing to file returns or pay any taxes for tax years 2013 through 2016 . The jury convicted both in June 2022 of conspiring to defraud banks and of evading federal taxes; in November 2022 a judge sentenced Todd to twelve years and Julie to seven, and both were ordered to serve supervised release after prison . Both maintained their innocence and appealed; in a ruling the year before the pardon, judges at the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convictions while sending Julie’s case back to a lower court for resentencing because of a calculation error .
On May 27, 2025, Trump called Savannah and Grayson Chrisley from the Oval Office to say he would pardon their parents — “your parents are going to be free and clean,” he told them — and the pardons were signed the next day; the Justice Department’s grant of clemency for Todd Chrisley, in case United States v. Chrisley 1:19-cr-297, is dated May 28, 2025 and describes a “full and unconditional pardon” . Both walked out of federal custody that Wednesday — Todd from a prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, Julie from a facility in Lexington, Kentucky — and headed home to Nashville . The pardons covered the federal offenses for which they had been convicted; the newly reported tax lien, however, documents separate unpaid federal tax assessments: $142,410.72 for the tax period ending December 31, 2021, and $1,429,041.89 for the period ending December 31, 2022, filed as a $1,571,452 lien in Davidson County, Tennessee, on August 19, 2026, according to records Page Six says it exclusively obtained .
Public Reaction and Consequences
The pardon drew criticism as the latest in a string of clemency grants to high-profile supporters, and even the couple’s own attorney framed it as a judgment about process rather than guilt: “Some of these decisions about pardons aren’t necessarily about guilt and innocence: they’re about how the process works,” Alex Little told CNN after the release. “The pardon process is here to say we don’t think the end result was the correct one” . The White House, for its part, said Trump was “always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance” . Page Six reports the couple did not respond to its request for comment on the $1.57 million lien, and the family’s public channels have stayed promotional: daughter Savannah recalled on her “Unlocked” podcast that Todd taught a financial class behind bars — “which, how ironic?” .
Current Status
The Chrisleys are free, back in Nashville, and hosting the podcast “Chrisley Confessions 2.0,” with the convictions themselves legally erased by the pardons . What survives is the civil side: the August 2026 federal tax lien documents $1,571,452 in unpaid assessments from the same era as their prosecution, and neither the couple nor their representatives has publicly disputed it — Page Six says its request for comment went unanswered . No new criminal proceedings against either have been reported.
Impact on Their Career/Life
The arc runs from reality-TV wealth to federal convictions to a presidential pardon, with the couple’s finances still carrying the scar: a seven-figure IRS lien, filed two years into their post-prison life and documented in records reported exclusively this week, for tax periods the pardon did not touch . The former “Chrisley Knows Best” stars’ post-prison public life is a podcast and family media appearances rather than the USA Network franchise that made their name — a comeback conducted in public while a $1.57 million debt to the IRS sits on the record .
Sources
- Page Six, “Todd and Julie Chrisley in $1.5m tax debt after pardon for tax evasion,” Oct. 14, 2026 — source
- NBC News, “Trump to pardon Todd and Julie Chrisley, the reality TV couple convicted of fraud, tax evasion,” May 27, 2025 — source
- CNN, “Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley are released from federal prison after receiving Trump pardons,” May 28, 2025 — source
- U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney, “Executive Grant of Clemency — Todd Chrisley,” May 28, 2025 — source