Alan Sawyer
Elizabeth Chrisley — better known by everyone as “Nanny Faye” — was asked to take the stand in the fraud trial against her son and his wife, Todd and Julie Chrisley, respectively.
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She was her authentic self through the entire process. Even if that meant she admitted that it was a regular event for her not to read documents before she signed them.
“I don’t read any of it,” she testified.
Faye was on the stand when presented with a list of financial records that stated she was the owner of the “7C’s Productions” company. That company was shown to be a “loan out company” where the family was paid for their reality TV show. Faye said she may have signed them, but she didn’t know anything about what they were nor what they meant.
It was part of an argument being made that the Chrisley’s committed bank and tax fraud to avoid paying nearly $20 million in what they owed.
Prosecutors alleged that to continue the schemes; to keep the make believe alive, Julie Chrisley transferred ownership of “7C’s” to Faye once the walls were beginning to cave in on she and Todd.
Todd and Julie are being charged with evading taxes and creating a conspiracy to defraud banks by making it appear that they were wealthier than they were. They were turned into authorities by a former employee, who alleged he was also a former lover of Todd Chrisley and paid hush money to keep their relationship a secret.
Mark Braddock, the former employee of Chrisley’s Executive Asset Management, had testified that he had knowledge of the following:
- Chrisley had spent more than $3.5 million from the sale of his first company in a year. He said that Chrisley went on a spree, buying Bentleys, other luxury cars, clothes, and other luxury items.
- Chrisley also spent almost the entirety of the money when the second half of the $8 million payment came through.
- Braddock said that he used Microsoft Word to create fake documents to inflate the Chrisleys’ income and valuations in order to acquire loans.
- Braddock said that he also created fake documents for his own financial benefit.
Nanny Faye did little to dissuade the stories even as she did not really do anything to confirm them neither.
“Honey, I had never been involved with nothing except be a signer,” Faye quipped to Assistant US Attorney Annalise Peters. “I have never owned it. I don’t want it.”
She said that she knew of the families hardship but not the intimate details and that to help the family she opened up her accounts to them.
From there, she continued to be herself.
“In 2012, when Mark took all of the money out of their bank, I gave them access to my bank and all the money in it,” she said. “If it’s still open, they can still use it.”
As the discussion continued, she stayed steadfast in towing the line that she just signs things and doesn’t ask questions. In the face of evidence that she signed for a Bentley that would be for Todd and Julie, she just shrugged out a non-answer.
“I’ve got a lot of age on me, a lot of water under the bridge,” she said. “So I don’t remember some things.”
One thing she does remember is her role on the show. To which she testified was “living my best life.”
