The Shady Bunch | Part II
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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Scamfluencers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or Apple Podcasts. This episode is the second part of our series, The Shady Bunch. If you haven't listened to episode one yet, go back and start there. You'll thank me later. And a heads up to our listeners, today's episode discusses mental health issues and self-harm. Please listen with care.

Sachi, you're no stranger to Twitter.com. I'm no stranger to Twitter.com, correct? I have no idea what you're talking about. I have never written a tweet in my life. I know for a fact you have subtweeted many times. And you have also been the subject of subtweets by me. Mostly by you, yeah. I was going to say. Okay, but imagine the person subtweeting you wasn't just any hater, but it was actually your dad...

How would that make you feel? I mean, my dad does have a secret Twitter account, and I found out recently and quickly had to make him go private and hide it from everybody because he does subtweet me there. So this is just my life. Okay, so what happens in this episode isn't exactly that, but the Chrisleys simply cannot keep their drama to themselves.

And it all adds up to one big, juicy tabloid mess that, as you know, I couldn't look away from. I cannot wait to tell you about this. Jodi Fleischer is a reporter for Atlanta's WSB-TV. She's in her early 40s. Her auburn hair is always perfectly curled. And she's got a TV-ready smile. But don't let the smile fool you. She's a serious investigative journalist. And she's a journalist.

And in February 2017, she breaks a huge story about Todd Chrisley. In reality television, Chrisley knows best. I make millions of dollars a year. What he doesn't seem to know is where he lives in real life. He who has the gold rules. I have the gold. But Georgia's Department of Revenue may try to take some of it after what we're about to show you.

Jodi reports that Todd likely evaded Georgia income taxes by claiming to be a resident of Florida on his federal tax filings and on his bankruptcy paperwork. It's a pretty brazen claim because Todd's business is based in Georgia and he stars in a show that's all about life in Georgia.

I don't really know how he's going to get away with this lie. It seems very easily fact-checked. Well, Jodi drops this bomb just as Chrisley Knows Best Season 5 debuts to its biggest audience yet, 2.9 million viewers. And actually, by this point, the Chrisleys have left Atlanta. Now they live in Tennessee, a state that happens to not have an income tax, just like Florida. Hmm.

Todd denies that he's trying to dodge state income taxes, by the way. He claims he's been a Florida resident for more than 15 years and that he's always filed his taxes.

A month later, Jodi comes out with another report. And this time, she gets someone close to the family, very, very close, to talk on the record. Kyle Chrisley, Todd's oldest son from his first marriage. Were you ever really a Florida resident? No, we went there for really vacation for in the summer. Kyle says the family does own a house in Florida.

And that his father made him and his older sister, Lindsay, get their learner's permits there. But he also thinks his dad is up to something. I think he's trying to hide money. He doesn't like to pay what he owes. At this point, Kyle is fully estranged from his parents. And he shares his own theory about what's going on with his dad. I think when you grow up not having money, and then when you finally get some, I don't think you want to give to anyone.

I mean, maybe that's true, but there's also a lot of people who were raised with money and are still really stingy like this when it comes to taxes and having to pay their share and like...

Yeah. Well, Jody reports that the Georgia Department of Revenue has opened an investigation into the Chrisleys to see if they illegally dodged paying almost $800,000 in state income taxes.

Not long after, Jodi leaves Atlanta for a new reporting gig in D.C. But the story she broke is sticking around, and it's going to reveal much more questionable behavior. From Wondery, I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Sachi Cole. And this is Scamfluencers.

In our last episode, we followed Todd and Julie Chrisley as they built their real estate empire on four closed houses and a whole lot of forged banking documents. Somewhere along the way, they became reality TV sensations and projected the image of a modern, all-American family. But now, their loyal fan base has splintered and America is about to see the wrath and the mess of a Chrisley house divided. ♪

This is The Shady Bunch Part 2.

It's August 2017, and Todd's the king of the world, or at least of the USA Network. The Chrisleys are one of the network's biggest shows, along with the WWE. So USA decides to renew Chrisley Knows Best for a sixth season and give Todd his own late-night talk show. According to Chrisley, it's my new show, where I get to say everything that I want to say and that I can't say on Chrisley Knows Best.

USA Greenlight's Growing Up Chrisley, a spinoff featuring Chase and Savannah. And a web series, What's Cooking with Julie Chrisley. We decided to do a girl's night in and cook rather than a girl's night out. I'm delighted.

And USA wants even more. It's reported that Todd's very close to signing a $75 million production deal for several shows. But while the Chrisley content factory is churning, Georgia tax authorities put $700,000 of liens against Todd and Julie. And the IRS wants theirs, too. At this point, Todd and Julie haven't paid federal income tax in years. And Todd owes about half a million dollars.

And ever since his bankruptcy wrapped up a couple years ago, the feds have been circling. So Todd and Julie take steps to protect their TV money. When the IRS asks for copies of all the bank accounts where Todd and Julie have signature authority, the Chrisleys find a workaround.

They make Todd's mother, Elizabeth, that's Nanny Faye for all you Chrisley heads out there, the CEO of Seven Seas Productions. They also make her the 100% stockholder. Okay, so it sounds like they're doing this really shrewd manipulation, which is that they're putting the company in Nanny Faye's name because when the IRS goes after them, they can't go after the company then because the company is not legally theirs.

Yes, exactly. And they're working with a new accountant, Peter Tarantino. Peter's a big guy. He looks like someone who played football in college. He's a vocal Christian, like the Chrisleys, and he seems to share their love of lying to the IRS. Yes.

Peter tells the IRS that Todd's too broke to repay what he owes and denies knowing basic information about the family, like where they live and what banks they use. Seems like no one really knows where they live. They're just floating through Florida and Georgia and California. It doesn't really matter. Kind of like a no man's land situation. Yeah. Well...

Both Georgia and IRS tax enforcement officials are closing in. Todd's desperate to control the narrative. But his oldest kids are on the outside looking in and ready to tell all about the real world of the Chrisleys.

Lindsay Chrisley is Todd's firstborn child from his first marriage. She's 28 years old and has shoulder-length blonde hair and big blue eyes. And though she flies in from Atlanta to appear on the show, she's on it less and less. She announces on the show that she and her husband are separating, and shortly after, in the summer of 2017, she totally falls off the map. Lindsay's off the show for good.

She later claims that there was some kind of altercation with her stepmother, Julie, when the camera stopped rolling. Julie later denies this. But either way, Lindsay cuts ties with her family.

Not long after, negative stories about the Chrisleys start appearing on a celebrity gossip website called Radar Online. They suggest that Todd and Julie's loving marriage is just a shtick for TV, that Julie cheated on her first husband to be with Todd, and that Julie's a fame-hungry monster on set. I love this family psychodrama playing out on Radar Online. It's where all family conflicts should happen. Yeah, and also it's like,

This is really dark, yes. Well, soon, Lindsay and her father are in a full-on subtweet battle, complete with hashtags like psycho and gloves off. It's incredibly embarrassing. Sachi, you have to take a look at these tweets. Okay, so there's one from Lindsay where she says, everybody starts caring when it's too late.

And then one from Todd saying, like mother, like daughter. Once a cheater, always a cheater. Hashtag truth may cost you your child. Hashtag it's coming out. And hashtag gloves off.

You know what? I like it. It's art. This is pettiness art. It's so stupid. While Sachi, things are about to get even more stupid because Todd Chrisley cannot stop. And he's about to make his family the center of a red-hot celebrity scandal.

In the summer of 2019, about two years after Lindsay left Chrisley Knows Best, she walks into Sugar's Ribs BBQ restaurant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She's here to meet up with her dad. She says he started texting her out of nowhere about how she might be able to help him. But she later tells Dr. Phil that the meeting didn't go as expected.

I thought maybe he's going to tell me sorry for things that have happened over the past couple of years. But when I got there, it was a completely different story. I love that Dr. Phil is the moral authority for this family. It really tells us how deep into the crevasse we have entered. Yeah, and the sick part is Dr. Phil actually might be able to help the Chrisleys. Yeah.

Someone like him would be able to really reason with these people. They would probably only listen to a TV doctor, yes. Yeah. And Sachi, according to Lindsay, Todd reveals that he and Julie are about to be indicted. A federal grand jury has accused them of defrauding banks and the IRS, and the state tax evasion case against them is still ongoing. ♪

Lindsay's shocked when Todd accuses her of triggering the investigation by turning him into the state. She denies having anything to do with it.

But Lindsay says Todd asks her to support the family by going along with a story about how she slept with a Georgia state official and gave him false information about Todd and Julie. So Lindsay's father wants her to lie and say she was sleeping with a Georgia state official and that she gave him bad information about her own dad. And that's why there's a tax evasion investigation.

Yes, it is crazy. And when Lindsay refuses, she tells Dr. Phil that her dad hits her with a truly shocking twist. That's when I got the warning that Chase had incriminating evidence against me. Chase, remember, is Lindsay's 21-year-old half-brother, Todd and Julie's son. And had obtained this tape from...

for $5,000. At that point, the conversation was over for me. Okay, this is a worthless group of people. It is so shocking. Todd's allegedly telling his daughter that he'll release nude photos and a sex tape of her unless she goes along with his plan. Jesus. Lindsay follows her lawyer's advice and files a police report about the incident. She claims, quote,

There is an ongoing issue with her family threatening and harassing her. I don't know how morally bankrupt you have to be to do this to your kid. That's one of the most depraved things I feel like we've heard in this entire show. Yeah, it is truly bonkers. And Lindsay is obviously very shaken. She goes back to Atlanta and tries to get back to her life.

But she of all people should know that with the Chrisleys, the real drama isn't in the courtroom. It's in the family, and it is just getting started.

About a month after Todd's confrontation with Lindsay at Sugar's Ribs, he posts something to Instagram. Sachi, can you please describe this post for us? Okay, well, this looks like a promotional shot from the show. And it seems to be all of the family except for Todd's kids from his first marriage, who I guess haven't really been on the show for a while at this point. And then a really long...

message, like five paragraphs. It's one of the longest pieces of text I've seen on Instagram. Yeah. Okay, well, what is it? It's Todd's federal indictment announcement. So he and Julie haven't been charged yet, but they must know to expect it any day now. And Todd and Julie want to get ahead of the narrative with their own version of events, which is our business partner ruined us. We didn't know anything. It's all Mark's fault.

Okay, right. So I remember Mark, he was the VP for the Chrisleys company, but he also was falsifying documents for them and they were really ready to throw him under the bus.

but that he also said that he had been having like an intimate affair with Todd? Yeah, that's exactly who he's talking about. And the very next day, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicts Todd and Julie on 12 counts including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Their accountant, Peter, also gets charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and filing false tax returns.

Todd and Julie plead not guilty, pay a $100,000 bond, and get permission to travel so they can continue filming their TV show. And while they wait for their trial, Todd and Julie keep running their mouths. They talk about the lawsuit on their podcast, Chrisley Confessions, and Todd finds a scapegoat. There are going to be a lot of things that are revealed regarding...

how we got to where we are with, you know, the Georgia Department of Revenue, how we got to where we are with the IRS and how my ex-wife played a part in some of this with her knowledge of being a whistleblower. OK, this is a lot of deflection. Also, like if your argument is my ex-wife told on me, then that means that there is something to tell on. Right. I know that's the point that I don't understand. Yeah. Well,

I mean, his ex-wife isn't the only one Todd's throwing blame on. He also claims Lindsay cooperated with Georgia tax authorities and may have even given them information. He makes a not-so-subtle dig at her on his podcast. She sent tweets out talking about the family, or you go to Radar Online and you call your friend up on the phone there and you give them information.

Give them information about the family that's not true. It is a shame that I have raised five children and that the jealousy and the greed and the backstabbing that has been exhibited towards a sibling is unconscionable. You know, I always think it's interesting when parents talk about how their kids turned out to be fuck ups, but they act as if they had no early

earthly influence over how their children turned out. So it's like, if you really think that about your kids, then you need to think about what you did. Yeah, it's like he's not really even talking about his daughter. It's like he's talking about her like she's a thing. Yeah, she's a possession. She's his possession and she's not doing what he wants. Yeah, Todd continuously shows how he feels like he owns his family and what they do and how they behave. Yeah.

And when he feels attacked, it is very clear that it doesn't matter who's attacking him, he will come out guns blazing. And right now, he's about to reach the lowest of lows.

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Lindsay had filed a police report but kept the threat under wraps. But now the world knows and the scoop from TMZ is pretty earth shattering.

Todd immediately goes into damage control mode. He says that he and Chase did not purchase any sex tape. And then later that day, he casually drops another bomb about his daughter's personal life. He tells E that Lindsay's had affairs with two former Bachelorette contestants. And that story blows up. It's so bad that Lindsay goes on Inside Edition to publicly respond.

This is your very own father saying that you've had these extramarital affairs. I think it's disgusting and I can never forgive it. I just keep thinking about what I would do if my dad did this and I would put him in a home so fast. I just can't imagine in any context a father behaving this way. It's genuinely evil. Yeah. Well, here's what Lindsay's lawyer says about it.

The first thing he does after being charged with 12 counts of various frauds is to come out and try to slut-shame his daughter. Yep, that's what it is. Those are the words. A few days later, an Entertainment Tonight reporter approaches Savannah, Lindsay's younger half-sister, at an airport. And when they ask her about the extortion claims, she throws a not-so-subtle dig at her dad and her brother, Chase.

So I don't want to speak on it too much, but what I can say is it's extremely sad that someone is using a sex tape that doesn't even exist in order to get five more minutes of fame.

Savannah's comments start a whole other new cycle of drama, but you'll notice that none of it has to do with, say, a federal indictment. Yeah, right. So they just got indicted. Like, why isn't anybody talking about that? Yeah, I mean, it does play like an evil genius plan to distract everyone. And it seems like Todd would rather destroy his own family than own up to anything.

Months later, Lindsay actually emails the FBI asking for their help getting a restraining order against her father. But the family will soon be rocked by a much, much more serious scare.

Todd's oldest son, Kyle, has the Chrisley looks. He's blonde with blue eyes and big round cheekbones. But he's always been a little out of step with his famous family. He's publicly struggled with addiction and mental health issues since he was a teenager. In the very first episode of the show, Todd says he's paid more than a million dollars for Kyle to go to rehab and other treatments.

And after the first season, Kyle's taken off the show after Todd says he refused to take medication for his bipolar diagnosis. After that, Kyle's drug use escalates and Todd and Julie get full custody of his daughter.

But by the time Todd and Julie are indicted, Kyle's sober and back in the fold with his family. He posts a note to Instagram that walks back all his previous accusations about his dad, like the time he told an Atlanta news station. Now he says it was all a lie. And he claims that his sister, Lindsay, along with his biological mother, turned Todd into Georgia tax authorities.

He writes, quote, My hope is that my sister Lindsay will seek the same forgiveness from my daddy as I have, that he is able to forgive her, and that my family will one day be whole again. Okay, so I remain chiefly concerned about the fact that there's a lot of adults who call their fathers daddy. I've never understood that, but it is kind of a bonkers reversal. I mean, he really turned it around, and now he's, like, all about his dad, and he's...

kind of shitting on his sister a little bit. Yeah, well, I mean, you have to wonder how Todd Chrisley, a master manipulator... What he said to his son, yeah. There's clearly more there. Well, two weeks after the indictment, Kyle attempts suicide. He survives, and the family rushes to his side.

Todd posts a picture of everyone crowded around Kyle's hospital bed. Can you describe this photo, Sachi? It's the whole family standing around Kyle. Todd is behind him, like, reaching over to touch his shoulder. And the caption says, Not today, Satan. Not today. Kyle is great and we are back to the grind. What?

Yeah, it is one of the craziest things you could post after someone's suicide attempt. Yeah, like how is he using like hustle and grind language after his son tried to kill himself? It's because it's really all about Todd Chrisley in the end. And just two weeks after that, Kyle appears on his parents' podcast to explain what happened.

Can you tell me kind of what led you to be in the hospital and what my involvement was or if I had any or if any of the family had any? Tell us how you got there. Tell us what happened. Well, I take medication and I had a bad side effect to it and I tried to take my own life.

Oh, this sounds like Kyle is being held hostage in a recording studio. This is so slimy. Yeah, and you'll see that Todd steers the conversation in a different direction as this episode goes on. Tell us about the reporters that have reached out to you wanting to get a story. They pray on the week, so...

And they try to contact you via Facebook? Yes. Okay. Or Instagram. Or Instagram. With all the serious threats his family faces, Todd is on a tear to distract the public. But one legal mess is about to be resolved, and it will confirm all of his worst impulses.

About a month after the federal indictment, Todd and Julie settle their tax evasion case with the state of Georgia. But, Sachi, there is so much more to the story. Right after announcing the settlement, Todd's lawyers file a lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Revenue's director, Josh Waits. And based on information Todd's team digs up, Georgia's inspector general launches an investigation of its own.

In a lawsuit, Todd claims Josh specifically targeted the Chrisleys because of their fame. And they produce text messages between Josh and Lindsay where Josh tries to convince Lindsay to give him the dirt on her family.

Then, in a deposition, Kyle says Josh arranged for him to speak with Jodi, the reporter for Atlanta's WSB-TV, and coached him on what to say. Kyle claims that Josh said if he went along with it, he'd get his daughter back. Okay, so it does sound like Todd was kind of right to some degree about the conspiratorial element of...

talking to Lindsay and trying to get information from the family, but it doesn't really make sense that he then says, okay, Lindsay, you're going to tell everybody that you were sleeping with this guy and that's why you did it. Exactly. It's still disgusting. Yeah, and I mean, the thing is, they did what they did and...

And it just seems like this is an extremely overzealous person who wants to get at them in any way possible. Like, Josh is clearly abusing his power and getting way too involved in this weird family dynamic. No one's acting great. No.

And the whole time the lawsuit and investigations have been ongoing, Todd's absolutely raging on social media about the alleged corruption of Georgia officials. This is all while Chrisley Knows Best seasons 8 and 9 air on USA. And Growing Up Chrisley is airing its third season.

Okay, well, is it at least giving them some interesting plot lines for the show? No. Oh. It really isn't. We're not talking like Housewives when legal trouble becomes a main storyline. Like, this literally has no effect on the storylines of the show. They're not even talking about it. No. And in March 2020, about five months after the Chrisleys settle with Georgia and file their lawsuit against the Department of Revenue, Josh resigns.

His employer apparently found out he lied on his resume about having an associate's degree. That is such a stupid, small, embarrassing thing to lie about. Like, lying about having an associate's degree. Yeah, it's like, just get it, dude. Well...

More than a year later, the inspector general releases its findings. Widespread corruption and waste in the department. The report finds the Department of Revenue used millions in assets they collected as part of their work to buy vehicles, Fitbits, and office furniture. And they include photos of Josh posing with the furniture seized from Todd and Julie that appeared on Chrisley Knows Best. And Josh had allegedly set up a dartboard or punching bag in the office with Todd's picture on it.

Well, that's just funny. It seems like he took the case very personally. Yeah, it's petty hours. I like it. And the tax evasion settlement with Georgia states that the Chrisleys incorrectly filed for just one year, 2009. So Todd and Julie paid just under $150,000 in back taxes and fees, and the state charges are dropped. But the Chrisleys are about to go to trial, and no amount of scrapbooking can get Todd out of it.

The federal courthouse in downtown Atlanta is a rectangular cement nightmare. And on a May morning in 2022, Todd and Julie Chrisley are inside for opening arguments in their tax fraud trial. Their kids, Savannah and Chase, are there for moral support. And this trial is a bruise to the Chrisleys' ego.

Their lawyer immediately establishes that the image presented on Chrisley Knows Best — the big house, the fancy cars, the walk-in closets — it's all a lie.

He argues that, actually, the Chrisleys were broke the whole time. So they weren't avoiding paying taxes. They couldn't. He says that while Todd was boasting about spending $300,000 a year just on clothes, he was actually in bankruptcy. Meanwhile, lawyers for Peter Tarantino, the Chrisleys' accountant, argued that he's not a criminal. He's just in over his head.

They say he's barely qualified to handle the Chrisley's finances and that he failed the CPA exam many times. I didn't know this was a valid defense in a criminal court. I will remember that for the future. They're like, you guys, he's just dumb. I wish being stupid got me out of stuff. It doesn't. It just gets me in more trouble. But, Sachi, the real fireworks start once witnesses take the stand, including a seriously unexpected twist.

Lindsay testifies in defense of her dad and stepmom. Oh, Christ. Lindsay says that during the time of the alleged fraud, Todd was too wrapped up in helping her and Kyle with their various struggles to focus on the business.

She says she no longer thinks her father was involved in a plan to extort her and doesn't actually think there's any sex tape. And then her testimony takes a turn. The government's lawyers bring up an email she sent to the FBI asking for help getting a restraining order against Todd.

Lindsay gets so sarcastic in her response that jury members reportedly had outbursts calling her out for her bad attitude. The judge literally stops proceedings to tell her, you're not doing anybody any favors by answering questions like that. Trust me. The strange thing about this is it sounds really similar to what happened between...

Kyle and Todd, right? Like, it seems like Todd just gets in the ears of his children and has them change their minds and then they kind of

throw themselves in front of a fire for their dad. I don't even know why. I mean, it doesn't seem like they're doing that great of a job of it. No. And also, Lindsay's not the only Chrisley to make an impression in the courtroom. When Todd's mom, Nanny Faye, takes a stand, she says she had no idea that she was listed as CEO of Seven Seas Productions.

She says that she never reads things before signing them, and she calls the government's prosecuting attorney, Honey, so many times that the judge has to tell her to knock it off. But...

Everyone's been waiting for the star witness, Sachi. Mark Braddock. Here we go. When he takes the stand, the government's lawyers come right out with it. They say Mark is a criminal who forged many documents and defrauded local banks and the U.S. government while he worked for Chrisley Asset Management. But they say he's been fully cooperating in the case and that the Chrisleys were the real ringleaders.

Mark's testimony is crushing. He says the Chrisleys received at least $60 million in fraudulent loans over the course of their scheme. And he says that the only time he impersonated Todd was at his direction, and he has the emails to prove it.

He claims he and Todd had an affair and after that ended, a close bond. And that that's why he was so willing to bend the law for him. Todd and Julie's lawyers say Mark conned the Chrisleys and their company by impersonating them, spying on them, and infiltrating their personal emails and phones. And that he did it because he was obsessed with Todd. Here's how Todd characterized Mark's testimony later on Chrisley's confessions. You know, our former business partner,

took the stand and was on the stand for like eight hours. I mean, this is public knowledge. And our attorney said, and you did that because you hate these people getting even for them firing you. Did you not? And he said, yes, I did. I generally find if your defense is people are obsessed with me, it's not going to work.

And I'm guessing that it didn't work in this case. I'm waiting for you to tell me how it ends. Well, neither of the Chrisleys take the stand. The trial lasts three weeks. And finally, the jury comes back with their verdict. Guilty on all charges of bank and tax fraud. Peter's found guilty, too. And Julie's also found guilty of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Todd and Julie face up to 30 years in prison. And they're not done fighting their case. Once they start blabbing about it to everyone, things get even more messy.

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On June 8th, literally the day after the verdict, USA announces it will still air the second half of the ninth season of Chrisley Knows Best. This is after they've already renewed Chrisley Knows Best for a tenth season. And they greenlit Love Limo, a dating show hosted by Todd.

Meanwhile, Todd and Julie are awaiting their sentencing, and they keep busy even when the show's not filming. A few months after their guilty verdict, they record several podcast episodes with Lindsay to prove they're no longer estranged. They talk about how they reconnected, and Lindsay says there's a lesson in all of this. Some of the things that maybe we would have even said in 2017 or even, you know, two years ago...

look very different in the way that I believe any of us sitting here would communicate today. Mm-hmm.

And so a big takeaway for me is keep the stuff off of social media. Meanwhile, the government is pushing for harsh sentences for Todd and Julie. It seems like they want to make an example out of them. And as they lay out in their sentencing memo, the Chrisleys provided false documents to the grand jury, pressured Nanny Faye into perjuring herself on the stand, and quote, successfully manipulated Lindsay into giving favorable testimony.

The government was not pulling any punches. Can you read this bit from their filing, Sachi? It says, quote, 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. Their empire was built upon the backs of defrauded community banks that collapsed while Todd Chrisley used the stolen money to fly to Los Angeles for bi-monthly haircuts.

This haircut detail is like the straw that broke the camel's back. If he had not done that, I truly think none of this would have happened. Absolutely. It's something that just keeps getting mentioned because it's like,

You can say they're playing a role on TV because it's like fictionalized reality TV. And they needed certain things to play that role. But that is just, it is a bridge too far for everyone. Yeah. And at the sentencing hearing in November 2022, Julie sobs and tells a judge that she's scared for her kids.

She says that their adopted daughter, Chloe, said she didn't want to live if her mom went away. Much like us, the judge is not moved. She sentences Julie to seven years in prison and gives Todd 12 years. Peter Tarantino, their accountant, is sentenced to three years.

Deadline reports that Chrisley Knows Best, Growing Up Chrisley, and other shows they're planning to develop with Todd, like Love Limo, are cancelled. And at the time of this recording, the Chrisleys are planning to appeal their convictions. It remains to be seen whether they'll podcast from prison.

While Sachi, we now know more than we ever wanted to know about this wild and shitty, shitty family. I just I can't wrap my head around the scale of their fraud and also like how long they were doing it. I mean, the really interesting thing about this is that the scam happened long before they were even on TV, which usually it happens the other way, right?

It's not like, oh, we got caught up in the lifestyle and we felt like we had to keep up with the Joneses because we were on TV. No, we were full of shit before. And then we decided to monetize and publicize our entire family by doing this reality show with offshoots and a podcast. Yeah. And you're also just kind of like, for what? Like, they already had the good deal with Fannie Mae that was, you know,

as gross as it was legitimate. Yeah. They could have just gotten normal rich and like waited to see where it would go and expand their business. And also they ended up getting a reality TV show like they were going to get rich no matter what. Like it wasn't from a lack of money that this scam happened. It was just

pure greed. I feel like we see this in a lot of these scams where it's just sheer hubris. Like people really think that if they get away with something for six months or a year, or if they get away with like a fraction of the scam, they can get away with the whole thing. They just get arrogant and they feel like they're untouchable.

And then they get famous and then they're really untouchable, right? Because famous people don't go to jail for anything. They just do like community service. And I bet that's what they thought they were going to have to do, that they'd have to pay some enormous fine. And not only did they think they were going to get away with it, like they were taunting the government basically in their podcasts and their posts about how it was all fake. And it was just kind of like...

Oh, they never expected this to happen. And they truly didn't know the power of a judge who hates you. Yeah. They couldn't even change their tune to be like remotely likable. No, because they are so delusional. They think they already are.

Do you think their fans will stick by them throughout this, or do you think they're just going to be, like, totally forgotten? I mean, it's a huge sentence, right? It's a lot of years. So if they're gone for a really long time, then I would be surprised if they were able to sort of recapture fame.

But I also am perplexed by how many people love this show and are obsessed with this family. So I'm clearly undervaluing its market share. Yeah, there is a very strong hashtag Free the Chrisleys movement. My last question for you is, who is one reality TV star where if they went to prison, you would stand by them no matter what? Teresa. Teresa Giudice. I did and I will.

Sorry. I agree. Listen, she could hit me in the head with a table and I'd be like, Ash is having a tough day. Or the other person, honestly, is Jen Shah. But her crime is way worse. Like her crime is actually quite upsetting. Her crime is so evil, but she's so charming. Great hats. Incredible nails. Jen Shah was convicted of all the terrible things she was accused of, basically. Yeah. And, you know, at the end of the day, you're still kind of like, I won't.

I want to know what she's going to wear. I want to know what she's going to do. I want to know what's going to happen. Yeah. She has a star quality that Todd Chrisley just never will have. And I think the lesson here is if you're going to commit fraud and you're a reality TV star, at least be charming and fun. Yeah. You know, you have to be Jen Shaw delusional, not Chrisley delusional. You're going to be awful. You better be fun.

This is The Shady Bunch Part 2. I'm Sarah Hagee. And I'm Sachi Cole. If you have a tip for us on a story that you think we should cover, please email us at scamfluencers at wondery.com. We use many sources in our research. A few that were particularly helpful were Haven Orechio-Agrezzet's reporting for Insider, Sarah Heron's reporting for Us Weekly, Kate Stanhope's reporting for The Hollywood Reporter, and Jodi Fleischer's reporting for Atlanta's WSB-TV.

Paul Schrote wrote this episode. Additional writing by Sarah Enney and us, Satya Cole and Sarah Hagee. Our senior producer is Jen Swan. Our producer is John Reed. Our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peary. Sarah Enney is our story editor and producer, and our story editor is Alison Weintraub. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Sound design is by Sam Ada.

Fact-checking by Gabrielle Drolet. Additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Tapia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Freesan Sync. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelow, Stephanie Jens, and Marshall Louie for Wondery.

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