The Biggest Scandals About The Chrisley Family We Couldn't Ignore

The Chrisleys might be the most scandalous family on reality television. Husband and wife team Todd and Julie Chrisley — not to mention their five children — have kept their fans and followers on their toes for years, displaying their family dynamics on their show, "Chrisley Knows Best," for a memorable 10 seasons. But it's not the on-screen drama that makes Todd and Julie one of the most controversial couples of all time. Au contraire. It's their off-screen legal troubles, financial situation, and even alleged marital problems that have thrown them into the wake of scandal time and time again. Indeed, the issues surrounding the Chrisleys are enough to make the most iconic reality TV stars blush.

Over the years, Todd and Julie have been charged with multiple crimes, including the defrauding of several American banks as well as the Internal Revenue Service. They have stood trial, been convicted by a jury of their peers, and sent to prison. They have even faced massive fines for allegedly defaming the investigators who worked on their case. Although Todd and Julie were ultimately pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025, the two remain enmeshed in multiple scandals of a more personal nature. The result is a family that never seems to keep its name out of the news cycle.

Fans of Todd and Julie Chrisley's old reality television show, "Chrisley Knows Best," know that the couple once lived a truly lavish lifestyle. They wore designer brand clothes. (Todd once claimed to spend $300,000 on the family's wardrobe alone). They sped down the streets of Tennessee in luxury vehicles, including a vintage Corvette worth up to of a quarter of a million dollars. And they lived in a $1.6 million mansion. They accrued admirers all over the globe, yet scandal lurked beneath all the glitz and glamour of their spending.

According to the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reason to believe that Todd and Julie obtained incredible amounts of cash by asking banks for loans that they were knowingly unable to pay off. To keep the scheme going, the couple would allegedly approach different banks for new loans to pay off the original loans. You with us? Eventually, the banks realized that the Chrisleys could not pay them back. Think Netflix's "Inventing Anna" here. The couple was charged with several instances of fraud against these banks. And in the words of U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan, "Over the course of a decade, the defendants defrauded banks out of tens of millions of dollars" (via DOJ). Todd and Julie denied the charges, pleading not guilty in court. Nevertheless, in 2022, a jury found them guilty on all counts. The couple's luxury life was essentially a house of cards.

Defrauding banks was not the only charge Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley face in 2022. According to some digging by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, the couple had apparently failed to pay their fair share of taxes over the years. Worse yet, their accountant, Peter Tarantino, seemed to be in on the scheme. According to the DOJ, the IRS claimed that half a million dollars Todd owed to the U.S. government had been purposefully transferred to Julie's bank account in a botched attempt to hide the money from investigators. When the IRS, in turn, asked for information about Julie's accounts, the money was seemingly transferred to another family member.

Todd and Julie denied these claims, pleading not guilty to all charges. A jury, however, found them guilty of all charges. Despite the verdict, the couple have continued to insist that they are not responsible for defrauding the IRS of valuable tax dollars. As Todd claimed in a 2025 press conference E! News covered, "I still was convicted of something that I did not do." He went on to allege that anyone could have ended up in his place, saying, "It could be you. It could be you. It could be any of you. ... So, I understand the shame that's around it, but I refuse to feed into that because shame is like a cancer that just spreads. And I have no shame." 

Ashamed or not, both Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley were found guilty on all charges, and they were sentenced to prison. While Julie was given a seven-year sentence, Todd's was 12 years. She went to FMC Lexington in Kentucky, and he headed to FPC Pensacola in Florida. The silver lining? During their time behind bars, both members of the reality TV couple learned to connect with their fellow inmates. As Todd shared in the press conference covered by E! News, "I have met some wonderful men. I have listened to some horrific stories about things that have gone on in our [prison] system." Echoing her husband almost word for word, Julie later gushed on "Good Morning America," "I have met some amazing women. I've met some women that I will be friends with till the day that I die."

Todd and Julie also developed new skills while fulfilling their respective prison sentences. Julie, in particular, stretched herself considerably, even learning how to drive a forklift. "I stayed busy every day. I was going to keep my mind active, my body active," she said in the same "Good Morning America" interview. Todd was quick to chime in that he, too, did his best to stay occupied. "I stayed in a routine. I got up, I showered, I shaved, I put on my clothes, I went to the library, I did my emails, I called Savannah every morning, and then I went and worked out."

While Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley were serving time in federal prison, their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, began to campaign for their release. As Variety reported, Savannah claimed that her parents had not been imprisoned for committing fraud but rather due to political persecution. Speaking on her podcast, "Unlocked," Savannah reportedly claimed, "The prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, started off the trial by stating, 'Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here are the Trumps of the South.'" However, according to Variety, transcripts of the trial do not corroborate this. What's more, juror Glenda Hinton told the publication, "Politics never came up. Trump never came up."

In spite of this, Savannah doubled down on her story, even appearing on Lara Trump's podcast, "The Right View," to push this narrative. Before long, Todd and Julie were using the political persecution angle to ask President Donald Trump for a pardon. To the shock of many, Trump obliged. According to a White House statement published by NBC News, Trump is "always pleased to give well-deserving Americans a second chance, especially those who have been unfairly targeted and overly prosecuted by an unjust justice system." While this pardon was completely legal, many reality TV fans found it deeply scandalous because there is no evidence that the Chrisleys' conviction was related to Trump in any way. As Hinton told Variety, the jury had no doubt that the couple was guilty. "It was a slam dunk," she said.

"Thou dost protest too much," goes the old Shakespearean kernel of wisdom, and when it comes to Todd Chrisley, this phrase can be taken literally. During the investigation into his tax situation, Todd protested loudly against any kind of inquiry into his tax dealings, claiming that any interest in his bank accounts was completely unjustified. As the LA Times reported, however, some of the reality star's protestations may have gone too far. Indeed, Amy Doherty-Heinze — an investigator from the Georgia Department of Revenue's Office of Special Investigations — sued Todd for defamation after he allegedly started an online smear campaign against her team. According to her lawsuit, Todd engaged in a "social media campaign against the GDOR and certain of its employees, contending that the investigation was illegal and improperly motivated."

The case ultimately went to trial in 2024, and the jury sided with Doherty-Heinze. Todd was then ordered to pay the investigator $755,000 in damages. Doherty-Heinze's lawyer, Nicole Jennings Wade, told the LA Times that her client was happy with this result, stating, "She is particularly appreciative that the jury found that not only were Mr. Chrisley's statements false and defamatory, but also that he acted with actual malice and a specific intent to cause her harm" (via Yahoo). In April 2024, reports indicated that Todd would not be quick to write any checks. His attorneys had told TMZ that he had limited funds.

In light of all the scandals that Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley have weathered together, it is perhaps unsurprising that rumors of tension plague their marriage. But whispers about Todd and Julie Chrisley's marriage have circulated for years, complete with allegations that the couple's romance is fake. As far back as 2017, an insider even told RadarOnline, "It is hard for anyone who works with Todd or Julie to believe that their marriage is authentic. It's made for TV. They do not display the same level of affection and love towards each other off-camera as they do when they are filming." The same source went on to allege that even the household role that Julie played on the show was fake because she relied on a staff to organize her life.

Interestingly, this is not the only time that cracks seemed to appear in the couple's relationship. On her podcast, "Unlocked," the pair's daughter, Savannah Chrisley, revealed that Julie did not originally want to marry Todd. "[S]he got pregnant, and she told my dad: She was like, 'I am not marrying you.' She was like, 'This is my baby. I'm going to raise my baby. If you want to be involved in his life, you can. But, like, I'm raising my child.'" Todd ended up proposing to Julie twice, and although they remain married as of 2025, some fans wonder whether there was another reason why Julie didn't want to wed.

Beyond Todd Chrisley and Julie Chrisley's origin story, there are other signs that their marriage is in trouble. Chief among them is the rumor that Todd might have cheated on Julie. Indeed, during the couple's criminal trial, Todd's former business partner, Mark Braddock, testified under oath that he and Todd had engaged in a yearlong affair in the early 2000s. Eventually, Braddock said, an unknown individual found out about the pair's less-than-public romance and proceeded to blackmail them. Apparently, Braddock paid them a whopping $38,000 to keep the affair a secret.

Todd has denied Braddock's allegations, and in court, the reality TV star's lawyer claimed that Braddock's allegations were just one-sided fantasies. Todd's team went on to assert that Braddock was "obsessed" with the "Chrisley Knows Best" star. In a later appearance on the "Speak on It" podcast (via Page Six), Todd responded to Braddock's testimony personally — although he used crude language to do so. At one point, he started bragging that his former business partner would have loved to have gotten into bed with him. He even claimed that one encounter would have inevitably led to many more, stating, "[H]e'd have come back for seconds." Todd then rejected Braddock's apparent take that the whole thing had been an experiment, declaring, "You ain't experimenting on s***! You know what you're doing." 

Among all the rumors swirling around Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley's marriage, one seems to keep popping up over and over again — that the couple is headed for divorce. After all, stress is a major cause of breakups. And what's more stressful than going on federal trial, going to prison, and facing rumors of infidelity? Whatever the Chrisleys' fans think of their marriage, however, the couple says that they are not giving up on each other. On an episode of their daughter Savannah Chrisley's podcast, "Unlocked," Julie stated, "Let me set the record straight. We are not getting divorced." She went on to add, "I don't think there was ever anything in my mind that we were separate. Or that we were ever going to be separated. And so I think it allowed us to really just come back together."

According to Todd and Julie, one of the reasons that their marriage is so strong pertains to the way they communicated with each other while in prison. Speaking on the same podcast episode, Todd explained, "In my mind, I was never away from her, and I would tell her in the emails every day. I said, 'I'm with you every step you take ... and feel my love surrounding you at all times.' So when I went to bed at night, she was right there with me. When I woke up and I did my prayers, she was right there with me."

Following the Chrisleys' release from prison, their family seems ready to bounce right back into the spotlight. Nevertheless, the truth about Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley is that they will likely have to fend off rumors about their financial situation for years to come. Not only will they likely face backlash for the crimes with which they were charged, but they will also confront rumors about how much money is really in their bank accounts. After all, in addition to the $755,000 in damages that they were ordered to pay IRS investigator Amy Doherty-Heinze, they were told to pay $17 million in restitution. Since receiving their pardon, the couple has reportedly stopped paying this money. But even before then, the couple's lawyers told TMZ that they didn't have the funds to make the payouts they owed at the time.

In an episode of "Nightline" (via People), journalist Juju Chang inquired into the Chrisleys' finances, commenting, "You know a lot of people think you're broke now and that your life is going to be completely different." Todd did not react kindly to this question, asking, "Where would they get that? Where would you get that? Do you know how much is in my bank account?" Chang then commenced with the real interrogation. "No. Would you like to tell me?" she responded. Todd quickly deflected, claiming, "[I]t's not what you just referenced."

Despite all the scandals surrounding Julie Chrisley and Todd Chrisley, the pair are making a return to reality television — a fact that is scandalous in and of itself. The family's new show, which premiered on September 1, 2025, is titled "The Chrisleys: Back to Reality." Like Julie and Todd's previous show, this one will explore the family's dynamics. Todd Chrisley's relationship with his children is expected to take center stage, especially after Savannah Chrisley made such a public effort to get her parents released from prison.

Fascinatingly, this new iteration of their show also reveals scandals from their past reality TV dalliances. As Todd and Julie's daughter, Chloe Chrisley, revealed in the premiere of "The Chrisleys: Back to Reality" (via Parade), the family has a history of inventing drama for the silver screen. At one point in the episode, she commented that things were easier back "when [the show] was scripted." Savannah even seemed to confirm this allegation, telling her younger sister, "Okay, well, now it is not." While it's hard to know what to believe, one thing is clear — the Chrisleys have managed to reemerge from the center of a string of scandals practically unscathed. If anything, they have picked up and carried on as if none of them ever happened.