Amid their $36 million fraud case, Todd and Julie Chrisley are also facing the likelihood of losing their Tennessee homes.
According to the New York Post, the Chrisley Knows Best couple will have to let go of their two properties in Nashville, worth $9 million combined, to pay the $17.2 million restitution ordered by Judge Eleanor Ross of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta.
“They’re going to have to give up a lot of things, including their homes, sadly. They won’t be able to afford it,” a source told the outlet. “But their main concern now is their children, especially their youngest boy.”
Todd and Julie share three children together — Chase, 26, Savannah, 25, and Grayson, 16. They are also the primary caregivers of their 10-year-old granddaughter Chloe, who is the daughter of Todd’s estranged son Kyle, 31, from his previous marriage.
Kevin Mazur/ACMA2017/Getty Todd and Julie Chrisley
On Monday, a federal judge sentenced Todd, 54, to 12 years in prison for bank fraud and tax evasion, while Julie, 49, was sentenced to seven years for her involvement in the crimes.
PEOPLE spoke with former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers Neama Rahmani — who has no ties to the Chrisley case — to confirm that the couple is expected to serve “85 percent of their sentence” under federal law.
Danielle Del Valle/Getty for E3 Chophouse Nashville
“And that’s the minimum they’re going to have to serve if they’re model inmates,” Rahmani explained. “Unlike states where inmates can sometimes serve less than even half of their sentence, under federal statutes, you only get a slight reduction for good behavior.”
Rahmani added that the couple, who will start their prison time at the beginning of the New Year, most likely received “high sentences” because “they didn’t accept any responsibility, even after they were convicted.”
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According to Insider, Julie was emotional during the trial as she recalled a conversation with her granddaughter Chloe. “To hear your 10-year-old say she doesn’t want to live if their mom goes away, no child should feel that way,” she shared.
Prior to her parents’ sentencing, Savannah opened up about the possibility of receiving custody of Chloe and her brother Grayson on Monday’s episode of her podcast Unlocked with Savannah Chrisley.
“It’s just really hard to sit here, four days before I go sit in the courtroom,” she said on the show. “I don’t know what my fate is, what my family’s fate is. I know that the short term is going to be really difficult and I may come home without both of my parents. That’s what the chances are, that’s the likelihood, and that’s my new normal.”
Beginning to get emotional, she continued, “I come home Tuesday, and I have custody of a 16-year-old, I have custody of a 10-year-old, and we spend our first Thanksgiving not as a family.”
