Before she and husband Todd Chrisley were sentenced last week, Julie Chrisley opened up about their legal woes in a podcast interview with their daughter Savannah.
The latest episode of Savannah’s “Unlocked” podcast was released on Tuesday, in which the “Chrisley Knows Best” star talked about how their case has cost them friends and insisted she never “intentionally” did anything she wasn’t supposed to do.
Last Monday, Julie and Todd were sentenced to seven and twelve years in prison. Afterward, they must complete 16 months on probation.
They were convicted in June of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax fraud. The couple has maintained their innocence.
During the podcast, Savannah said that she thinks it’s “pretty s—ty” that some of Julie’s friends dating back decades or even to childhood haven’t reached out to her amid the whole process. To that, Julie suggested “maybe people don’t know what to say.”
She also mused, “I think some people, they feel maybe that by reaching out to me, they can tarnish themselves or make themselves look bad.”
To those people, she said, “that’s on you because I know what I’ve done. More importantly, I know what I haven’t done.”
One of those things she said she hasn’t done is “intentionally tried to do anything that I wasn’t supposed to do.” She further insisted she’s “never got out here and hurt a soul.”
For all that, said Julie, “Look where I’m standing now.” She then asked, “How’s that right?”
But, she also said she refuses to hold on to “anger and bitterness and resentment,” even though she believes she has just cause to do just that. “But it’s not going to get me anywhere,” she said.
Savannah expressed her own frustrations with her parents’ convictions, saying that the American justice system is failing people.
“It tears families apart,” she said. “Look at everything that we’re going through. How is that just? It’s not when you’ve got rapists and murderers and traffickers and all these people out here but yet, what? They just get a slap on the wrist.”
She further suggested that the system is being particularly hard on her parents because they are in the public eye as reality television stars. All of it, Savannah said, has left her angry.
“It just fuels me and gives me the strength to keep moving instead of just sitting and sulking in it,” she explained. “Because if I sit and sulk in it, then it’s going to lead me down a road that I don’t need to be at. So, therefore, I’m going to use it as anger and motivation but that’s not the best either.”
After last Monday’s sentencing, the Chrisley’s lawyer, Alex Little of Burr & Forman LLP, said in a statement received by People that the family is remaining optimistic despite their sentences.
“Todd and Julie are people of faith, and that faith gives them strength as they appeal their convictions,” he said. “Their trial was marred by serious and repeated errors, including the government lying to jurors about what taxes the couple paid. Based on these issues, we are optimistic about the road ahead.”
Prosecutor Annalise Peters, however, said that the jury’s unanimous verdict “set the record straight.”
“Todd and Julie Chrisley are career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner,” she continued.
The couple is reportedly due to arrive for prison on January 15, 2023.
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