Mark Braddock: Key Witness in the Chrisley Fraud Trial

Mark Braddock is the former business partner and longtime employee of reality television star Todd Chrisley who became the federal government’s star witness in the 2022 bank fraud and tax evasion trial of Todd and Julie Chrisley. Fired by Todd Chrisley in 2012, Braddock went to the FBI, admitted his own role in fabricating financial documents, and testified under a grant of immunity that he had committed the fraud at the Chrisleys’ direction.¹ His testimony anchored the prosecution’s case and led to convictions on every count.

Who Mark Braddock Is

Braddock met Todd Chrisley at a parent-teacher function in the early 2000s and went to work at Chrisley Asset Management, Todd’s foreclosure-management company. Braddock said he helped grow the firm from two employees to roughly sixty and described his bond with Todd as a “brotherhood.”²

The trust ran deep. Todd and Julie Chrisley named Braddock in their wills as the guardian of their minor children and gave him access to their homes, cars, and boats. He paid the family’s bills and held their login credentials.³ Todd later described Braddock’s role as having access to “everything.”

In 2012, Todd fired him. The Chrisleys said it was for mismanaging the company.⁴

Why He Went to the FBI

Shortly after his termination, Braddock approached the FBI and state authorities. Todd Chrisley’s defense attorney, Bruce Morris, told the jury Braddock was seeking “protection and revenge.”⁴ Braddock admitted to agents that he had committed financial crimes but said Todd had directed him. Federal prosecutors granted him immunity in exchange for his cooperation.¹

Todd Chrisley later alleged that Braddock “persuaded a different set of investigators at the U.S. Attorney’s office not only to reopen the case but also to grant him immunity from prosecution for his own crimes and bring charges against us.”¹

What He Testified To at Trial

The case, United States v. Chrisley (No. 1:19-cr-00297), was tried in the Northern District of Georgia before U.S. District Judge Eleanor L. Ross.⁵ Prosecutors alleged the Chrisleys defrauded community banks in the Atlanta area of more than $30 million in personal loans through false financial documents. Braddock walked the jury through how those documents were made.

He told jurors he used Microsoft Word to fabricate bank statements and other records that inflated the Chrisleys’ income and assets, then submitted them to banks. He called the practice “scrapbooking,” a term he said the Chrisleys themselves used for editing documents to include false financial information.⁶

In one example, Braddock said he sent Todd a doctored Merrill Lynch statement showing over $776,000 in assets when the actual balance was less than $17,000. Todd’s response, according to Braddock, was to “make it show 4 mil+.” On another occasion, when a bank asked for records Braddock did not have, Todd told him to “stop telling me this shit, create them like you always have.” Asked whether he had committed the fraud alone, Braddock answered, “No. Mr. and Mrs. Chrisley and myself were all three involved.”⁶

Braddock implicated Julie Chrisley directly. He testified that in 2012 Julie emailed him and Todd a scanned check and bank statement with instructions to change only the post date. Braddock said he made the edit and sent the altered document to a bank with Julie’s knowledge.⁶

He also testified about spending. Braddock said Todd “burned through” more than $3.5 million from the 2005 sale of his earlier company, Executive Asset Management, within a year on luxury cars and designer clothing, and later did the same with an $8 million payment.²

The Affair Allegation

During his May 2022 testimony, Braddock alleged that he and Todd Chrisley had been sexually intimate for about a year in the early 2000s.⁷ He said the feelings from that relationship were why he went along so willingly with the fraud, telling jurors, “I would do whatever he needed to get done.”⁸

Braddock also testified that an anonymous person once sent text messages threatening to expose both the affair and the fraud unless paid off. He said he made four withdrawals of $9,500 each, totaling $38,000, and handed the cash to Todd in a parking garage.⁹

Todd Chrisley has consistently denied any affair. He mocked Braddock on his podcast in January 2023 and denied the claims again on another podcast in August 2025, calling them attempts to sell a scandal.¹⁰ Julie Chrisley said the allegation never concerned her: “I know who I’m married to.”³

How the Defense Attacked Him

On cross-examination, Braddock conceded he had also created fake financial documents for his own benefit.² The defense pressed a competing theory: that Braddock, not Todd, was the architect of the fraud. Attorneys argued he had forged Todd Chrisley’s signature, impersonated him on phone calls with banks, and sent emails to himself from Chrisley’s account to cover his tracks.⁴ Bruce Morris told jurors that Braddock was “obsessed” with Todd Chrisley and “wanted to be him.”¹⁰

Corroboration From Donna Cash

Another former Chrisley Asset Management employee, Donna Cash, testified for the prosecution and gave an account that both supported and complicated Braddock’s. Hired in 2008 as Todd’s assistant, Cash said Braddock manipulated her into working under his direction by falsely telling her Todd thought she was “useless.”¹¹

Cash told the jury Braddock directed her to sign Todd Chrisley’s name on documents, send fake financial statements to lenders, delete emails, and intercept bank voicemails on Todd’s personal and home phones. She said Braddock threatened her with firing and jail if she told Todd what was happening. She described him as jealous of the Chrisleys, saying he “hated the Chrisleys” and “wanted his name on the door.”¹¹ On cross, prosecutors noted Cash kept working for the Chrisleys for years afterward and later fabricated invoices for the Chrisley Knows Best production company.¹²

The Outcome

On June 7, 2022, the jury convicted Todd and Julie Chrisley on all counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit tax evasion. Julie was also convicted of obstruction of justice.⁵ Judge Ross sentenced Todd to twelve years and Julie to seven. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions in June 2024.¹³

On May 27, 2025, President Donald Trump granted full, unconditional pardons to both Chrisleys, and they were released the next day.¹⁴ Braddock, whose immunity deal shielded him from prosecution in the first place, has not been reported to have made any public statement since the pardon.

1
US Magazine. Todd and Julie Chrisley’s Fraud Trial – Everything to Know
2
Business Insider. Man Who Committed Fraud for Chrisleys Testifies About Intimate Relationship
3
Entertainment Weekly. Julie Chrisley Addresses Claim Todd Had Gay Affair With Former Associate
4
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley’s Defense Says Obsessed FBI Informant Wanted to Be Him
5
U.S. Department of Justice. Television Personalities Sentenced to Years in Federal Prison for Fraud and Tax Evasion
6
Tax Notes. Eleventh Circuit Affirms Reality Stars’ Tax Crime Convictions
7
Page Six. Todd Chrisley’s Ex-Business Partner Alleges They Had Gay Affair
8
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley Denies Gay Affair With Business Partner Mark Braddock
9
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley Paid Blackmailer $38,000 to Keep Affair a Secret, Witness Says
10
Page Six. Todd Chrisley Denies Claim He’s Gay, Had an Affair
11
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley’s Employee Testified About Ruining His Life
12
Yahoo News. Todd Chrisley’s Former Employee Described Ruining His Life
13
Justia. United States v. Tarantino, No. 22-14074
14
ABC News. Trump Officially Pardons Reality TV Stars Todd and Julie Chrisley