Who Turned the Chrisleys In? Braddock, Lindsie, and the Pardon

The person who turned the Chrisleys in was Mark Braddock, Todd Chrisley’s former business partner at Chrisley Asset Management. Braddock went to the FBI and state investigators in 2012 after Todd fired him, admitted his own role in years of bank fraud, and was granted immunity in exchange for cooperation. He became the government’s central witness at the 2022 trial that ended in Todd and Julie Chrisley’s conviction.

Who Mark Braddock Was

Braddock was an IT professional who met Todd Chrisley at a PTA meeting and was hired to help run Chrisley Asset Management, a real estate company. The two men grew unusually close. At trial, Braddock testified that he and Todd carried on an extramarital affair for roughly a year in the early 2000s, which he described as his first relationship with a man. After the affair ended, he said, they kept what he called a “brotherhood” and remained close friends until 2012.¹

Braddock testified that his lingering feelings for Chrisley were part of why he was willing to commit fraud on Chrisley’s behalf. During their working years, both men received anonymous text messages threatening to expose the affair and the fraud unless they paid. Braddock said he withdrew $38,000 from the business account in four transactions of $9,500 each and handed the cash to Chrisley in a parking garage to pay off the blackmailer.¹

Why He Went to Federal Authorities

The relationship collapsed in 2012. Todd fired Braddock after accusing him of mismanaging the real estate business, and Julie followed with a lawsuit alleging Braddock had stolen money.² Braddock then approached both federal and Georgia state authorities. He acknowledged he had participated in the fraud himself but told investigators he had been acting under Todd Chrisley’s direction throughout.

The defense at trial cast Braddock’s cooperation as revenge. Todd Chrisley’s attorney, Bruce Morris, argued that Braddock was “obsessed” with Chrisley and “wanted to be him,” alleging that Braddock had bought one of Chrisley’s homes, decorated it with Chrisley’s old furniture, learned to forge Chrisley’s signature, and impersonated him on phone calls. The defense told jurors that Braddock himself had committed the bank fraud through forgery and went to the FBI seeking “protection and revenge.”²

Prosecutors conceded Braddock was himself a “fraudster” who had committed crimes while working for the Chrisleys, but they maintained that Todd and Julie were the masterminds. In exchange for his testimony, Braddock was granted immunity.²

What He Told Investigators

Braddock described a bank fraud scheme running from the mid-2000s through 2012, in which he, Todd, and Julie all played a part. He told the jury he created fabricated financial documents, including a doctored Merrill Lynch report that grossly overstated the Chrisleys’ assets, and submitted them to banks to obtain loans and lines of credit.³

Braddock testified that when he told Todd he lacked valid financial documents, Todd responded, “Stop telling me this s***, create them like you always have.” He also described Julie’s direct involvement, saying he and Julie had a term for editing documents with false information: “scrapbooking.” According to Braddock, Julie once gave him a check and a bank statement and specifically asked for the date to be altered. Asked by prosecutors whether he committed the fraud alone, Braddock answered: “No. Mr. and Mrs. Chrisley and myself were all three involved.”³

Was It Lindsie Chrisley?

Todd and Julie’s estranged daughter Lindsie was widely rumored at the time to be the person who tipped off investigators about her parents’ finances. Her attorney denied she was the source of the information that launched the investigation.⁴

Lindsie did have contact with the FBI, but on a separate matter and after the fraud case was already underway. Following her father’s 2019 indictment, she asked agents for help obtaining a restraining order, alleging Todd was harassing and threatening her, and wrote to law enforcement, “I am in no way, shape, or form connected to this monster.”⁵⁴⁶

By trial, Lindsie had reversed course. She testified for the defense, said she no longer believed her father was behind any extortion threats, and told the court she had since learned “there never was a sex tape.” The judge noted she was “combative” and “sarcastic” toward prosecutors during her testimony.⁵

What Braddock’s Cooperation Led To

A federal grand jury indicted Todd and Julie in August 2019 on conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax fraud. Julie faced additional counts of wire fraud and obstruction of justice.⁷

Prosecutors said the couple submitted falsified bank statements, audit reports, and personal financial statements to Atlanta-area community banks to obtain more than $36 million in personal loans, spent the money on luxury cars, designer clothing, real estate, and travel, and then took out new fraudulent loans to pay off old ones. Todd eventually filed for bankruptcy, walking away from more than $20 million in debt.⁸

The tax charges focused on the couple’s television income. Prosecutors alleged Todd and Julie conspired with their accountant, Peter Tarantino, to hide money from the IRS through a loan-out company called 7C’s Productions, kept corporate bank accounts in Julie’s name to conceal income, and failed to file returns or pay taxes for 2013 through 2016.⁸

After a nearly three-week trial in U.S. District Court in Atlanta before Judge Eleanor Ross, a jury convicted Todd and Julie on all counts on June 7, 2022. Tarantino was also convicted.⁸ In November 2022, Judge Ross sentenced Todd to 12 years and Julie to seven, each followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered restitution totaling $17.8 million.⁹ Tarantino received three years and a $35,000 fine.

The Pardon

The Chrisleys reported to prison in January 2023, Todd to a federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, and Julie to a federal medical center in Lexington, Kentucky. On May 27, 2025, President Donald Trump granted them full pardons. In a phone call to their daughter Savannah, Trump described the couple’s treatment as “pretty harsh” and said he wanted them “free and clean.”¹⁰¹¹¹²¹³

1
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley Paid Blackmailer $38,000 to Keep Affair a Secret, Witness Says
2
Business Insider. Todd Chrisley’s Defense: Obsessed FBI Informant Wanted to Be Him
3
Tax Notes. Eleventh Circuit Affirms Reality Stars’ Tax Crime Convictions
4
People. Todd Chrisley’s Estranged Daughter Lindsie Accuses Brother and Father of Extortion Over Sex Tape
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Business Insider. Todd Chrisley’s Daughter Told FBI He Was Trying to Exploit Her
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Page Six. Todd Chrisley’s Daughter Lindsie Claims He Extorted Her Over Sex Tape
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People. Chrisley Family Fraud Trial: Everything to Know
8
U.S. Department of Justice. Television Personalities Sentenced to Years in Federal Prison for Fraud and Tax Evasion
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New York Times. Todd and Julie Chrisley Sentenced in Fraud Case
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New York Times. Trump Grants Chrisley Pardon
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Fox 5 Atlanta. President Trump Grants Full Pardons to Todd and Julie Chrisley
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CNN. Todd Chrisley Pardon and Prison Release
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WEAR TV. Todd Chrisley Says Pensacola Federal Prison Opened His Eyes to Injustices in System