If You're Wondering Who the Chrisleys Are, You're Not Alone — Here's Why They're Famous

President Donald Trump is throwing yet another pardon party for a couple of incarcerated folks who were pretty well known long before they got locked up. On May 27, 2025, the president hopped on a call with Savannah and Chase Chrisley to let them know he was going to pardon their parents, Todd and Julie Chrisley. In a video clip of this conversation that was shared on X, Trump tells the Chrisley kids that their folks were treated pretty harshly. He also said he had no idea who they were.

The president is not the only person who doesn't know who the Chrisleys are. After this news broke, social media was flooded with people who were equally as confused by this decision. It's easy to be moved by the tearful gratitude expressed by Savannah and Chase, but why were their parents getting such a lucky break? It probably helps that they're famous.

Fans of reality television are already familiar with the Chrisleys, who broke into the genre back in March 2014 via their show Chrisley Knows Best. It's no surprise that the reality-star-turned-President might have a soft spot for a couple of fellow grifters who also had their own unscripted show.

The series ran until March 2023 and revolved around patriarch Todd Chrisley who made his money in the real estate game, or so we all thought. We also got to know his wife Julie, who helped out her husband and their five kids. The show was basically a southern version of The Kardashians but with less pizazz and more fraud. It also spawned a few spinoffs, but none had the staying power that Chrisley Knows Best did. Then the legal issues landed.

According to the Associated Press, in August 2019, a federal grand jury in Atlanta indicted Todd and Julie on charges of tax evasion, conspiracy, bank fraud, and wire fraud. Their accountant, Peter Tarantino, was also charged with "conspiracy to defraud the United States and aiding the filing of a false tax return." In a post to Instagram, Todd blamed a former employee, claiming that in 2012 they discovered this person was stealing from them while creating phony documents to cover it up.

He went on to say that this employee was fired and in an act of revenge, took the fake documents to the U.S. Attorneys office and convinced them that the Chrisleys had "committed financial crimes." According to Todd, he was able to convince someone from the U.S. Attorneys office that this was a "bunch of nonsense" which was all they needed to send the aggrieved employee on their way. This wasn't good enough for the employee, who managed to convince the U.S. Attorneys office to reopen the case.

If after reading that story you are unconvinced of the Chrisleys' innocence, a jury agreed with you. In June 2022, Todd and Julie were found guilty of the various federal charges brought against them and were sentenced to 12 and seven years, respectively, in separate federal prisons, per the Department of Justice.

"Over the course of a decade, the defendants defrauded banks out of tens of millions of dollars while evading payment of their federal income taxes,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. "Their lengthy sentences reflect the magnitude of their criminal scheme and should serve as a warning to others tempted to exploit our nation’s community banking system for unlawful personal gain."