Savannah Chrisley Speaks Out as Dad Todd's Prison Shuts Down

Savannah Chrisley doesn’t know what the future holds for her dad Todd Chrisley.

Previously on “Chrisley Knows Best”, the cast member shared that she’s feeling a complex blend of feelings as the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida, prepares to shut down – a place where her father is currently serving his time for tax evasion and bank fraud convictions.

Savannah, aged 27, expressed a mix of emotions on her Unlocked podcast episode dated January 28th. She stated that while she is glad the facility, which has been treating people inhumanely and unfairly as per the charges against her mother Julie Chrisley, is closing down, she is also saddened because she’s uncertain about where her father might be relocated to next.

The prison where the 55-year-old has been living since his sentence began in January 2023 is planning to close, as a means to optimize resources and address safety issues, according to information from the Pensacola News Journal. Additionally, the bureau aims to relocate inmates who are within approximately 500 miles of their current location, based on reports.

Savannah expressed her hope and fervent wish that they would adhere to that policy. If they don’t, she made it clear she would be ready for a fierce battle.

TopMob News has reached out to FPC Pensacola for comment but has not heard back.

Before the news of the facility’s shutdown, Todd was let go from his administrative position at the onsite chapel of the Florida prison, as revealed by his lawyer Jay Surgent to TMZ in October. The reality TV personality had been coordinating religious services for various faiths with a chaplain, but was subsequently dismissed by prison authorities, according to the attorney’s statement.

Currently, a representative from the Federal Bureau of Prisons stated to the media outlet that due to concerns about privacy, they don’t provide comments regarding the living circumstances or work details of any inmate.

Keep reading for more details on Todd and Julie Chrisley’s legal cases.

In August 2019, a federal grand jury in Atlanta brought charges against Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley on 12 counts. The charges include wire fraud, conspiring to commit bank fraud, and conspiring to defraud the United States. This information was confirmed by NBC News. The alleged fraud is said to have started in the mid-2000s and includes:

1. Evading almost $2 million in state taxes between 2008 and 2016.
2. Hiding over $1 million from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In simpler terms, Todd and Julie Chrisley were accused of committing various fraudulent activities, such as evading taxes and hiding money from the IRS, between 2008 and 2016. These accusations led to a total of 12 charges against them in August 2019 by a federal grand jury in Atlanta.

A day prior to the issuance of the indictment, Todd asserted that he and his spouse were not guilty. Instead, he suggested that a loyal employee was embezzling funds and extorting them.

In a post on Instagram, he stated, “We have no secrets and are proud of our actions, as we not only believe we’ve acted with integrity, but we also have substantial proof and numerous supporting testimonies to back this up.

Three years passed before the stars of Chrisley Knows Best faced trial. Over a span of three weeks, numerous testimonies were heard. Initially claiming innocence, they were found guilty on all charges related to tax evasion and bank fraud on June 7, 2022.

It was claimed by the U.S. attorney’s office that the pair, along with their accountant named Peter Tarantino, who was tried alongside them, were involved in a scheme to deceive banks, leading to the loss of over $30 million across ten years.

In a statement made in June 2022, Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, pointed out that regardless of one’s renown, wealth, or status, deceit, fraud, and theft will not escape justice. She emphasized that when motivated by greed, the guilty verdict for these three defendants serves as a reminder that unlawful financial dealings do not lead to profits in the end.

After five months had passed, a court in the Northern District of Georgia handed down a sentence for Todd: 12 years in prison. Similarly, they gave Julie a sentence of seven years in prison. (Meanwhile, Peter received a sentence of three years in prison.)

For approximately ten years, the accused individuals swindled banks out of tens of millions of dollars without fulfilling their federal tax obligations, as stated by U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan in a November 2022 announcement. The severity of their prison sentences highlights the scale of their criminal activity and is intended to deter others from misusing our country’s banking system for illegal financial advantages.

In September 2023, the length of both Julie’s and Todd’s sentences were reduced. Specifically, Julie was due for release a year and a half ahead of schedule, while Todd’s release date was brought forward by two years from its original 2035 plan.

It’s clear that Todd and Julie are exemplary inmates who were given unusually long prison terms, according to their attorney, Jay Surgent, in a conversation with Insider in September 2023. As of his statement, Todd is serving a sentence of just 10 years while Julie has reduced her term to five years.

In January 2023, Todd and his partner began serving their individual prison terms. Todd is currently incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FPI) Pensacola in Florida, while Julie is being held at a separate federal penitentiary in Lexington, Kentucky.

Approximately half a year following the incarceration of both Julie and Todd, their daughter Savannah Chrisley offered some insights on their current situations. She disclosed that, while serving their sentences, there was no communication between the two of them in prison.

195 days passed with no communication… she expressed on her August 2023 Instagram post. My heart aches terribly… I implore for fairness and justice!

She also pushed back at rumors about their time in prison.

She found it amusing because one of them commented, “He’s let himself go,” as she shared on her Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley podcast. However, it’s important to note that there’s no hair color available in a commissary, so naturally, his hair is gray. If I were to meet him today, I would praise him for keeping the gray and say that it suits him well; he has an excellent prison barber.

Instead, Todd voiced his concerns regarding the treatment he experienced at the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, even though he was confined behind bars.

He mentioned during a call on the December 2023 edition of Cuomo that the food was old. Specifically, it had exceeded its expiration date by a year.

He went on to say, “There are rats and squirrels infesting your storage facility where the food is kept. They managed to hide themselves under plastic sheets, only to later rip open the ceiling due to mold growth. As a result, they uncovered a decayed cat carcass in the ceiling which eventually fell onto the food pile.

Besides the distressing events unfolding in the cafeteria, he claimed that someone additionally threatened to blackmail his loved ones.

He mentioned that there was a picture taken of him sleeping and it was sent to his daughter. He requested $2,600 per month in this message, presumably for his security or protection.

In the absence of their parents due to legal restrictions, Savannah, who takes care of her younger siblings Grayson and Chloe, has shared that their incarcerations and limited communication have been a significant burden for her.

She revealed to TopMob News in March 2024 that the last conversation they had was before her father entered federal prison. She claimed that there is a significant amount of retribution being taken against her father due to their vocal criticisms regarding prison conditions.

In reality, she claimed that the prison authorities were hindering much of his email communication with her mother.

Even though she didn’t want to focus the experience on herself, she acknowledged that it sometimes felt overpowering.

Savannah shared on her podcast, Unlocked, in April 2024, that she struggles with the sensation that even though Mom and Dad are still around, life seems to keep going as if they aren’t part of it. Similarly, she experiences this feeling towards certain individuals in her own life because it often seems like they just carry on with their daily routines without much regard for what she might be experiencing.

She went on saying, “I’m having a hard time catching my breath, here. It’s not just about finances with the children or managing my role as a parent, but also dealing with my relationships.

In June 2024, Julie’s seven-year prison term was overturned by a three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. While they upheld her convictions, the court determined that the judge in her 2022 trial had made an error in calculating the sentence for the reality star.

The district court failed to specify the evidence it used to convict Julie for losses prior to 2007. As a result, we are unable to locate this evidence in the case records. Therefore, we are overturning Julie’s sentence and returning the case back to the district court solely for them to re-establish the facts, calculate the loss, restitution, and forfeiture related to Julie, and then re-sentence her accordingly.

In simpler terms, the decision regarding adjustments to her sentence was given to a lower court, while Todd’s sentence remained unchanged.

After having her prison sentence overturned three months ago, an Atlanta court eventually affirmed the original seven-year sentence for Julie. In a heartfelt gesture, she apologized, not only to the court but also to her children, with tears in her eyes.

In a court appearance on September 25th, as reported by People, Julie expressed, “Over a significant period of time, I’ve pondered over what I needed to say. I wish I could take back the actions and circumstances that have brought us here. I want you to know, it took me spending 20 months in prison, but the regretful events leading up to this trial are much older.

She’s made every possible effort to reconnect with her family. She’s even learned new abilities like operating a forklift and serving food properly. This phase of her life has been incredibly challenging. She can never fully repay her children for the hardships they’ve endured, and for that, she expresses her deepest regret.

2025-01-29 01:54

Savannah Chrisley Speaks Out as Dad Todd’s Prison Shuts Down

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