'Felt like fakes': Savannah Chrisley says TV bosses told family to not speak about $30M fraud case on show
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Savannah Chrisley recently spoke on her podcast about she and her family feeling “like fakes” after they were barred from speaking about their legal problems on their show by executives. Following the indictment of her parents, Todd and Julie, in 2019 for a $30M tax fraud scheme, the family were instructed to maintain their silence on the matter to maintain their pristine image on screen.
Chrisley, 25, made the revelation while speaking to her guest, SiriusXM’s Storme Warren. She said, “All throughout the years, even like everything my parents have been going through, we were never allowed to speak about it.”
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As a consequence of which, the 'Growing Up Chrisley' alum said on her 'Unlocked' podcast, "So we felt like the liars. We felt like the fakes because we're like, we just want to talk about it.” Even if she didn’t specifically mention anyone, she said, “But executives would not allow us to speak about it”.
She continued, "And so then we look like the liars and that we didn't talk about it and it's a catch 22.” She revealed the mental duress she was under due to this situation. "It literally will eat you alive because I have gotten to the point where I'm like, I don't even know if I know who I am," Chrisley said.
Todd and Julie Chrisley's sentencing
On November 21, 2022, Todd and Julie, 53 and 50 respectively, were sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison. Todd will reportedly be serving 12 years and he was placed in the Pensacola Facility in Florida. Julie will serve seven years in a separate facility from her husband in Lexington, Kentucky.
The couple was charged with tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy in 2019. They entered a not guilty plea, arguing that Mark Braddock, their employee, was at fault for reportedly inflating the couple's income to banks so they could obtain a loan of more than $30M. The couple filed an appeal after a jury deemed them responsible in June, 2022.
Braddock, for his part, told the jury that he also had a dalliance with Todd in the early 2000s for about a year and remained close to him till 2012 until the duo got into a heated argument with Todd throwing Braddock out of the office. It was then that he decided to turn the Chrisleys in.
‘That’s my new normal’
Speaking about her situation, the ‘Sassy by Savannah’ founder said on the November 21, 2022, episode of her podcast, “I may come home without both of my parents. That’s what the chances are,” adding, “That’s the likelihood, and that’s my new normal.”
She continued, “I come home Tuesday, and I have custody of a 16-year-old and a 10-year-old, and we spend our first Thanksgiving not as a family. I’ve never been away from my family for the holidays.”