Former reality television star Julie Chrisley was resentenced in Atlanta’s federal trial court Wednesday to seven years in prison on bank fraud and tax evasion charges.
Her daughter, Savannah Chrisley, said the new sentence is an injustice and will be appealed.
“That’s what you get from an Obama-appointed judge,” Savannah Chrisley said in court as her mother was being taken back into the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
During the resentencing hearing, Julie Chrisley, 51, apologized publicly for the first time.
“I cannot ever repay my children for what they’ve had to go through, and for that I’m sorry,” Julie Chrisley said in court as two of her children, Savannah and Chase Chrisley, watched. “I apologize for my actions and what led me to where I am today.”
Julie Chrisley was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2022 after being found guilty at trial of bank fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and obstruction of justice. Her husband, Todd Chrisley, was also found guilty of all the charges he faced and sentenced to 12 years in prison.
The jury found that the Chrisleys fraudulently obtained $36 million in bank loans and hid their millions of dollars in income to avoid paying more than $500,000 in federal taxes.
In June, the Atlanta-based federal appeals court upheld both convictions but ruled that Julie Chrisley must be resentenced. The appellate court found sufficient evidence that Julie Chrisley had participated in the bank fraud scheme from 2007 to 2012, but said it wasn’t clear that she was involved in the conspiracy when it began in 2006.
Julie Chrisley’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross to impose a new sentence of no more than five years in prison. Julie Chrisley is expected to receive credit for the 20 months she’s served. She must spend five years under supervision once released.
Prosecutors asked the judge to again sentence Julie Chrisley to seven years behind bars. Prosecutor Annalise Peters said the Chrisleys “built an entire empire based on greed,” despite already being wealthy. She said Julie Chrisley’s fraud and deceit spanned more than a decade and victims included her family, her network production company and various contractors.
“This was an 11-year journey of fraud after fraud after fraud,” Peters said. “Even after the defendant knew that she was under investigation for bank fraud, she went on to commit at least three different types of fraud.”
The amount Julie Chrisley must pay in restitution was significantly reduced as part of her new sentence. In 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley were jointly ordered to pay $17.2 million and to forfeit the same amount. On Wednesday, Julie Chrisley’s restitution was reduced to $4.7 million.
Prosecutors said that amount is “the actual loss incurred after Julie’s real estate company received its first fraudulent loan on July 11, 2007.”
Julie Chrisley’s attorney, Alex Little, said the judge’s refusal to impose a reduced sentence was incredibly disappointing. He also criticized the judge for appearing to admonish Savannah Chrisley during the hearing.
Ross was asked to take into account the impact Julie Chrisley’s incarceration had on her two youngest children, 11 and 18, who have been in Savannah Chrisley’s care. Without naming Savannah Chrisley, the judge said she hoped those entrusted with the children’s care were not “putting false, misleading and inaccurate information out there.”
The judge also said she hoped the children’s wellbeing was of more concern than television or podcast ratings.
“Be honest with them about what’s happened in this case and teach them how to be good people,” Ross said. “People that don’t cheat. That don’t steal.”
Outside court, Savannah Chrisley said the idea that she would put ratings above her siblings is “laughable.”
“This has nothing to do with ratings,” she said. “We’ve given them no false information. The judge had made up her mind and I truly do believe that a lot of it is politically driven.”
Savannah Chrisley, who spoke at the Republican National Convention in July, said she had not talked with former President Donald Trump about pardoning her parents should he be elected again in November. She said the conversations she has had with Trump “have been nothing but full of love and support.”
Julie Chrisley’s resentencing hearing was the first time she appeared publicly as an inmate, without makeup and color treated hair. A blond on camera, she was a brunette in court and wore a dark blue prison uniform.
The judge denied Julie Chrisley’s request to take herself back to prison in Lexington, Kentucky. She will be transported by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Julie Chrisley’s attorneys said in a Sept. 20 filing that she had been “a model inmate” and has earned a forklift license and more than 40 certificates for completing various programs. They said she had worked in the prison’s commissary, food service and laundry.
The Chrisleys, who got rich working in real estate, lived in Atlanta when they landed a reality television show about their family in 2013. They moved to Nashville before they were indicted in 2019.
Todd Chrisley, 56, is in a minimum-security prison in Pensacola, Florida.
___
© 2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
