ATLANTA — This Thanksgiving will make the second one that Julie Chrisley has been in federal prison away from her family.
During a recent Instagram Story, Savannah Chrisley posted her Thanksgiving list that she and Julie Chrisley came up with during her last prison visit with her mother.
She captioned it, “When mom helps you make your Thanksgiving list at visitation last week.”
She also included two sad face emojis.
The menu and shopping list were made on three napkins giving clues as to what the Chrisley family is having to eat on Turkey Day without Todd and Julie Chrisley.
The reality star couple were found guilty of fraud in 2022 and are both serving a combined sentence of 19 years in federal prison.
The Chrisleys were initially indicted in August 2019. Prosecutors said the couple submitted fake documents to banks when applying for loans.
Julie Chrisley sent a fake credit report and bank statements showing far more money than they had in their accounts to a California property owner in July 2014 while trying to rent a home.
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A few months after they began using the home, in October 2014, they refused to pay rent, causing the owner to have to threaten them with eviction.
The money the Chrisleys received from their reality television show, “Chrisley Knows Best,” went to a company they controlled called 7C’s Productions, but they didn’t declare it as income on federal tax returns, prosecutors said.
The couple failed to file or pay their federal income taxes on time for multiple years.
The family had moved to Tennessee by the time the indictment was filed but the criminal charges stem from when they lived in Atlanta’s northern suburbs.
Since being in prison, Julie Chrisley has shown her creative side. During an episode of Savannah Chrisley’s podcast last year, she read a letter from Julie about how she whipped up a holiday dinner for her fellow inmates using whatever she could find.
“I decided to cook for Thanksgiving. I fought against it, but I decided to do it. There was about 10 of us who cooked together. I made chicken and stuffing casseroles. There was chips and dip. Several ladies made dessert. It doesn’t sound like much, but cooking anything in here is a chore,” Savannah Chrisley read.
Julie Chrisley went on to talk about how she did this without a kitchen or utensils.
“Cooking is done on radiators in the winter and with hot water and a small Rubbermaid orange cooler in the summer,” Julie wrote. “There’s no refrigerator, no knives, of course, no staples other than a few spices from the commissary. We made the best of it though and just sitting around a table was nice.”
Savannah said that despite being away from her family, Julie spoke about there still being “so much to be thankful for” despite her legal troubles.
“You expect her to be down in the dumps,” Savannah said. “I would be. I would be friggin’ miserable.”
Channel 2 Action News first started investigating the Chrisleys in 2017, when we learned that Todd Chrisley had likely evaded paying Georgia state income taxes for several years.
Court documents obtained by Channel 2 Action News showed that by 2018, the Chrisleys owed the state nearly $800,000 in liens.
The couple eventually went to trial and a federal jury found them guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion in June 2022.
Savannah Chrisley said during her podcast that she hoped to have her parents home by the summer.
The next hearing for the couple’s appeal is scheduled for April 19 where Savannah Chrisley said she is hoping the judge will grant bond for them.
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