Chrisley Knows Best

A comprehensive chronology of Todd and Julie Chrisley’s journey, from their initial success on reality TV to their recent conviction for bank fraud and tax evasion resulting in a 19-year prison sentence.

Todd and Julie Chrisley burst onto the reality television scene in 2014 when “Chrisley Knows Best” debuted on the USA Network.
Todd and Julie Chrisley: a Complete Timeline of Their of Rise and Fall

The couple rose to reality TV fame in 2014 with the premiere of their reality TV show, “Chrisley Knows Best.”

The show centered around Todd, a real estate mogul, self-made millionaire, and father with dreams of opening a department store with his real estate company, Chrisley & Company.

While the department store never panned out, Vice reported that at the time of the show’s launch, Todd Chrisley felt “fashion was his calling.”

The focus of the reality series then shifted focus to Todd’s life at home with his God-loving, straight-talking wife, Julie, and their large brood, comprised of children Lindsie, Kyle, Chase, Savannah, Grayson, and granddaughter, Chloe.

Todd and Julie Chrisley: a Complete Timeline of Their of Rise and Fall

“While their lifestyle is over-the-top and their personalities are larger-than-life, the Chrisleys are a very close-knit family who are refreshingly honest and genuinely funny,” a spokesman for USA Network said ahead of the show’s premiere, the New York Daily News reported.

For the first half of the series, the family lived in a 30,000-square-foot mansion north of Atlanta and then relocated to a $3.4 million home in Nashville, Bravo reported in 2019.

Before the series was canceled in light of Todd and Julie’s convictions, it spawned several spinoffs, including “Growing Up Chrisley,” which followed kids Chase and Savannah; “According to Chrisley,” an after-show hosted by Todd; and “What’s Cooking With Julie Chrisley,” a cooking web series hosted by Julie.

The series depicted them as a picture-perfect Southern family with everything money could buy. But just two years prior, Todd had filed for bankruptcy.

The show did not mention Todd’s financial struggles but showcased the family’s immense wealth and extravagant spending habits.

Todd and Julie Chrisley: a Complete Timeline of Their of Rise and Fall

“In a year, we sometimes spend $300,000 or more, just on clothing,” Todd boasted to cameras in 2014.

However, in a court document from August 2012, the businessman said he had just $55 in a checking account and $100 in cash, after filing a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection for almost $50 million.

One of his lawyers at the time, Robert Furr, told People that while Todd had $4.2 million in assets, he had racked up nearly $50 million in debt, partly due to poor real estate investments.

According to People, along with the business debt, Todd had several mortgages totaling $12 million, a $4.4 million loan from his wife, and a delinquent IRS bill for almost $600,000.

Per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, a judge in the case granted Todd’s request for relief and erased $20 million of the debt in 2012.

Between 2013 and 2016, the Chrisleys did not file any tax returns or pay taxes, the US Attorney’s Office said.

At the Chrisleys’ November 2022 sentencing, the US Attorney’s Office said the couple neither filed tax returns nor paid any taxes for the 2013, 2014, 2015, or 2016 tax years.

As Business Insider’s Haven Orecchio-Egresitz reported from the courtroom, from 2013 to 2016, the couple made $6 million from “Chrisley Knows Best.” The money from the show was paid to the Chrisleys’ company, 7C’s Productions, but was not declared as income in federal tax returns.

“It’s clear that Mr. and Mrs. Chrisley were starring in a TV show and they were compensated handsomely as a result,” US Attorney Byung J. BJay Pak said in a press conference when the couple was indicted in 2019. “That money was hidden from the IRS.”

In 2017, the couple learned that they were under investigation for tax evasion.

The day after the Chrisleys discovered that they were being investigated and the 7C’s Productions account had been provided to the IRS, Julie took her name off the account and replaced it with her mother-in-law’s, a Bank of America employee testified at the couple’s federal trial.

Prosecutors said at their indictment that the switch was made to keep the IRS from taking money from the account.

In 2019, the Georgia Department of Revenue brought a $2.1 million tax evasion charge against Todd and Julie. It was settled after it was discovered they had overpaid some taxes.

The couple was cleared of a state tax evasion charge in Georgia after they were charged with evading over $2 million in state taxes between 2008 and 2016.

The settlement indicated that the couple had overpaid several of those years and received a refund of more than $66,000, according to WXIA of Atlanta. They did owe the state money for one year ($214,118 in 2009) and agreed to pay just under $150,000 to settle the case.

In a press release, Todd said he and Julie “knew all along that we had done nothing wrong and that when the facts all came out, we would be fine.”

However, the couple was not out of the woods completely — while this was going on, a federal grand jury in Atlanta had indicted the couple on charges of conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion.

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