May 28, 2025
The “Chrisley Knows Best” stars were found guilty of conspiring to defraud Atlanta-area community banks in 2022 in order to get over $36 million in personal loans.
Reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley received good news that President Donald Trump will be pardoning their fraud and tax evasion convictions, adding to the list of controversial pardons, including Jan. 6 insurrectionists and cops who killed an unarmed Black man, CNBC reports.
In a video circulating on social media, Trump, who has been convicted of a few crimes himself, called the couple’s daughter, Savannah Chrisley, to give her the good news. With fellow pardoned inmate Alice Marie Johnson, who is now the president’s “pardon czar,” standing with him, the president told Savannah that her “parents are going to be free and clean.” “It’s a terrible thing, but it’s a great thing because your parents are going to be free and clean,” Trump said, highlighting that he hopes it will be done as soon as May 28.
Known for their series “Chrisley Knows Best,” the Chrisleys were found guilty of conspiring to defraud Atlanta-area community banks in 2022 to get over $36 million in personal loans. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia said the lavish couple “conspired to defraud the Internal Revenue Service,” which resulted in Todd receiving a 12-year sentence and Julie getting seven years.
Savannah, who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, has been lobbying for her parents’ release and openly criticizing the prosecutors who brought the Chrisley case forward. However, Trump’s high-profile and seemingly controversial pardons since being elected for a second term are raising eyebrows, especially since his campaign toward Black voters alleged he would tackle a “corrupt” justice system.
In addition to pardoning white supremacists who engaged in the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill attacks, Trump pardoned two former D.C. police officers, Andrew Zabavsky and Terence Sutton, who were convicted of killing a 20-year-old unarmed Black man in 2020. Both officers received sentences in 2022 after being accused of facilitating a chase against 20-year-old Karon Hylton-Brown, who was allegedly operating an electric moped without a helmet on the sidewalk, causing a crash.
Sutton and Zabavsky agreed to cover up the incident, allowing the car involved to leave the scene 20 minutes after the crash while Hylton-Brown lay in the street. The two officers then turned off their body-worn cameras and talked privately before leaving the scene. The duo denied that a chase even took place, supporting the theory with a false police report that placed the blame on a drunk driver and left out any mention of Hylton-Brown’s injuries.
Evidence aside, and the victim’s mother, Karen Hylton, pressing for D.C’s Mayor Muriel Bowser for assistance, Trump granted both officers full and unconditional pardons after being convicted of second-degree murder (Sutton), and conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction.
According to Fox 5 DC, Trump has issued over 1,500 pardons since taking office again, with a focus on white-collar crimes and violent attacks on police.
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