ATLANTA — Shortly after oral arguments were heard in Todd and Julie Chrisley’s appeal to have their federal fraud conviction overturned, Lindsie Chrisley, Todd’s daughter from a previous marriage, revealed she was told not to come to the hearing in downtown Atlanta.
“I was not there. I do feel that it was in the best interest for me and everyone else,” Lindsie said during a recent episode of her podcast. “My sister privately let the message get to us that she did not want us present at the hearing. And it was shared with me that if we were there, there would be issues and that we would be asked to leave.”
She added, “It’s mind-blowing to me, the control and manipulation. It very much alarms me and I’m just going to leave it at that.”
Savannah confirmed that she told her sister not to come during a recent Q&A on Instagram, but gave her side of things as well.
“I most certainly told her privately to not attend. I told her that she was not wanted, that my dad did not want her there, and that he didn’t care to have a relationship with her,” Savannah said.
Savannah then brought up Lindsie’s alleged involvement in helping with their parents’ convictions, People Magazine reported. Underscoring that it pains her to discuss the topic, Savannah explained “the record has to be set straight.”
In an interview with Channel 2 Action News in 2019, Lindsie denied she had anything to do with her father’s conviction. “I’ve told my dad, ‘I don’t want you to go to jail,’” she said. “I’ve told my legal counsel, ‘I don’t want my parents to go to jail.’ I don’t want to be involved in this. They brought me into this. This was not a choice that I made.”
She then voiced allegations that Todd Chrisley and her stepbrother were threatening her, claiming to have purchased a sex tape she believed could exist.
Lindsie said the pair wanted her “to lie about an incident and if she refused to do so they were going to release the sex tape involving her.”
The incident refers to what ultimately led to Todd and Julie Chrisley’s conviction.
Lindsie Chrisley and her attorney, Musa Ghanayem, said she was never involved with any investigation into the family.
“All of a sudden, they say she’s the one out there, responsible for the federal indictment and at the point, I have to go out and say, ‘That’s just not true,’” Ghanayem told Channel 2 Action News.
In a statement to Channel 2 Action News at the time, Todd Chrisley denied the extortion claims.
“As I said before, I’m at a loss as to why Lindsie is saying these terrible untrue things about her brother and me,” Todd Chrisley’s statement read. “But whatever she says, she is still my daughter. I have always loved her, I will always love her, and I am here for her.”
The feud between Lindsie and Savannah has been very public. Lindsie told People Magazine that their current relationship is “nothing.”
“I have realized that as an adult, it’s my responsibility to have healthy relationships and cut out unhealthy ones,” Savannah has said on her podcast. “Especially now with the two kids, it’s my job to protect them emotionally, physically, psychologically and I just don’t have room for people that don’t want to show up and show up in a healthy manner.”
Todd and Julie Chrisley, best known for the reality series “Chrisley Knows Best,” were found guilty of criminal bank fraud and tax evasion in June 2022.
Our partners at Channel 2 Action News first started investigating the Chrisleys in 2017, when they 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.