Latest / Reality with The King / Pardon Me, Mr. Chrisley & Juicy Joe: Reali-TEA Crime Stories

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Pardon Me, Mr. Chrisley & Juicy Joe: Reali-TEA Crime Stories · Reality with The King

0:03
Speaker 1: Reality with the King is hosted by me, Carlos King.
0:07
Speaker 1: I'm an executive producer who have produced some of your
0:10
Speaker 1: favorite shows from the Real Housewives in Atlanta, New Jersey
0:13
Speaker 1: and my own creation, The Love and Marriage Franchise and
0:17
Speaker 1: Bell Collective. Every episode we recap reality television from the
0:23
Speaker 1: Real Housewives Franchise to The Bachelor or Selling Sunset, in
0:27
Speaker 1: addition to celebrity guests, whether in the unscripted space or
0:31
Speaker 1: scripted as well. Hi, rain drops of today's episode of
0:37
Speaker 1: Reality Crime Stories. I am back with my co host,
0:41
Speaker 1: Courtney Parker, who is a true crime expert based on
0:46
Speaker 1: her decades long career. Not only describing for the Law
0:51
Speaker 1: and Order Franchise under the Legiondary Dick Whobb, she has
0:56
Speaker 1: also executive produced and created several true crime shows for
1:01
Speaker 1: different networks from Oxygen to TV one with her production
1:06
Speaker 1: company Lost and Thought Productions.
1:09
Speaker 2: Give it up rain Drops for the Courtney Parker.
1:14
Speaker 1: My co hosts and I are going to dive into
1:18
Speaker 1: the Chris Lees. In addition to Gia Judais, Yes, the
1:23
Speaker 1: daughter of my dear friend Teresa Judais, who wants to
1:29
Speaker 1: get Trump to pardon her dad. But before we get
1:32
Speaker 1: to all of that, I do want to start off
1:34
Speaker 1: talking about as you can hear Courtney in the background
1:36
Speaker 1: lapping because she's like, what is going on, Carlos with
1:40
Speaker 1: not only your housewives, but the reality stars at Trump.
1:43
Speaker 1: Because Courtney, politics and reality are the intersection of pop culture.
1:48
Speaker 3: Well especially with this particular president who was a reality
1:51
Speaker 3: star himself.
1:53
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah yeah.
1:55
Speaker 1: So in case you've been living under a rock, as
1:58
Speaker 1: you all know, top Chrisly and his wife were parting
2:03
Speaker 1: recently due to the sort of massive work that their daughter,
2:09
Speaker 1: Savanna undertook is speaking with President Trump to get them pardon,
2:15
Speaker 1: So Todd and Julie Chris Lee having pardon. So today
2:20
Speaker 1: we're gonna flip the formata bit rain jobs and give
2:23
Speaker 1: you guys a true crime breakdown regarding the case and
2:26
Speaker 1: crime of the Chris Lies. We're calling today's episode white Collar,
2:32
Speaker 1: White Lives, White.
2:34
Speaker 2: Privilege, question mark.
2:36
Speaker 1: We're discussing everything from what they did, how they got caught,
2:41
Speaker 1: what the courtroom drama looked like, and the wild way
2:44
Speaker 1: they ended up back on the streets living their life
2:47
Speaker 1: of luxury and likely with the cameras not too far behind.
2:51
Speaker 1: And as you know, I'm the king of reality television
2:54
Speaker 1: I can. I'm not gonna say confirm child because everything's allegend.
2:59
Speaker 1: But I know some folks who were there to capture
3:05
Speaker 1: their release and they definitely have.
3:09
Speaker 2: Cams and they face Courtney. We'll get into that too.
3:11
Speaker 1: But look, when it comes to Todd and Julie Chris Lee,
3:15
Speaker 1: they had their picture perfect stuff in life, or so
3:18
Speaker 1: the public thought. From reality show royalty to federal prison inmates.
3:22
Speaker 1: The stars of Christly Knows Best were convicted of their
3:27
Speaker 1: frauding banks out of more than thirty million dollars and
3:31
Speaker 1: hiding their real income excuse me from the irs while
3:37
Speaker 1: flogting a lavish lifestyle home TV. But now they're walking
3:42
Speaker 1: away from that conviction, or at least shaving some serious
3:46
Speaker 1: time off thanks.
3:47
Speaker 2: So pardon from the Trump administration.
3:50
Speaker 1: So in this episode Range Drops, we will pull back
3:53
Speaker 1: the curtain of how the chris Lee's put off this
3:57
Speaker 1: fraud in the first place, what really happened the investigation
4:00
Speaker 1: and trial, and why their sensus of reduction has so
4:04
Speaker 1: many people side eyeing the system. And yes, late in
4:09
Speaker 1: the episode, we will get in to Jia Judaice from
4:11
Speaker 1: the Real Housewives of New Jersey and the New Bravos
4:15
Speaker 1: show next jen NYC, which is Courtney's new favorite show.
4:19
Speaker 1: Who was going to follow up Savannah's Footsteps, who was
4:23
Speaker 1: also writing Trump to get her father Joe Judice release,
4:28
Speaker 1: So Courtney, I mean not released pardon. So Corney, let's
4:31
Speaker 1: get into it.
4:33
Speaker 2: What is going on? Courtney? As we talk about this case.
4:37
Speaker 3: You know, for me, this isn't just about reality stars
4:42
Speaker 3: that we like and we love. It's really about literally
4:48
Speaker 3: a system that is protecting famous convicted felons of their
4:56
Speaker 3: TV popularity versus a system of criminals that it doesn't protect.
5:03
Speaker 3: We talked about that early on how Trump is pardoning
5:07
Speaker 3: personalities TV personalities, and literally it's overturning convictions of the
5:16
Speaker 3: jury of their actual peers that have found them guilty
5:20
Speaker 3: of these crimes. We're not talking about people who didn't
5:23
Speaker 3: do anything. We're talking about people who went through the
5:28
Speaker 3: federal system, due diligence was done and they were found
5:32
Speaker 3: guilty and sentenced to years behind bars. So this is,
5:40
Speaker 3: you know, a deep dive into does white privilege come
5:47
Speaker 3: into play, does celebrity more so come into play, and
5:52
Speaker 3: really getting into convictions being overturned just because cameras are
5:58
Speaker 3: rolling and dances are watching.
6:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, so let's get into the timeline of what happened
6:06
Speaker 1: over the thirteen years.
6:07
Speaker 2: Some rain drops listen up.
6:09
Speaker 1: Between twenty twelve and two thy sixteen. These are the
6:14
Speaker 1: crimes and charges allegedly throughout the four year span. While
6:20
Speaker 1: filming these shows, the Chris Lees allegedly secured over thirty
6:25
Speaker 1: million dollars in loans using fabricated documents, false bank statements,
6:29
Speaker 1: inflated income, fake credit reports, and income summaries to secure loans.
6:38
Speaker 3: Thirty million dollars in loans on top of that, like
6:41
Speaker 3: it from the start, you and I both know just
6:45
Speaker 3: from being in reality TV producing these things. When you're
6:50
Speaker 3: vetting these kinds of characters, sometimes the embellishment of their
6:57
Speaker 3: lifestyles is just that it's embellishment. And so for the
7:02
Speaker 3: Chris Lies, very very early on, insiders were saying all
7:06
Speaker 3: wasn't what met the eye, like people were saying, there
7:10
Speaker 3: was an exaggeration of this lavish lifestyle. And so we
7:16
Speaker 3: know the term keeping up with Jones is the Chris
7:18
Speaker 3: Lies were trying to keep up with the Chris Lies
7:20
Speaker 3: and the Joneses by fabricating. According to these alleged crimes,
7:29
Speaker 3: fabricating their income, exaggerating what they have and building it
7:36
Speaker 3: over the span of both Georgia and Tennessee. This lifestyle,
7:40
Speaker 3: this lavish lifestyle, this rich lifestyle that when it was
7:45
Speaker 3: all said and done, just was not true. And like
7:48
Speaker 3: I said, going early on into this, when I talked
7:52
Speaker 3: to producers kind of associated with their rise back in
7:58
Speaker 3: twenty fourteen, they were saying, weren't on the street then
8:04
Speaker 3: was it's exaggerated, like they weren't as wealthy as they
8:10
Speaker 3: were pretending to be, even though we know that they
8:13
Speaker 3: probably acquired a lot of wealth by way of the show.
8:18
Speaker 1: So what has been alleged to I mean, listen, they
8:22
Speaker 1: were convicted, they've since been pardoned, So we're saying allege
8:25
Speaker 1: to everybody, because listen, I know a lawyer. I did
8:29
Speaker 1: attend a few courses at the Epany K. Williams University
8:33
Speaker 1: of Law for the past seven weeks, but you know
8:37
Speaker 1: I'm still learning. So if I say alleged child, that's
8:40
Speaker 1: the reason why. But Courtney is alleged that during the
8:46
Speaker 1: four years twenty twelve to twenty sixteen that they hit
8:50
Speaker 1: income from the IRS using a production company owned in
8:55
Speaker 1: Julie's name to evade paying taxes all to support the
8:59
Speaker 1: life style, and that in twenty nineteen, while they were
9:03
Speaker 1: filming The Chrislies and the spin offs, growing Up Chrisly
9:07
Speaker 1: and was cooking with Julie Chrisly that that's when an
9:11
Speaker 1: investigation was launched when a disgruntled former employee submitted forged
9:19
Speaker 1: financial documents to prosecutors and claimed that the Cup was
9:23
Speaker 1: operating a scheme across scream at that.
9:29
Speaker 2: So talk us about that because.
9:31
Speaker 1: It was a foreign employee who alleged that he also was,
9:35
Speaker 1: you know, allegedly in a intimate relationship with Todd, who
9:42
Speaker 1: is of course married to Julie.
9:46
Speaker 3: Listen, there are there's so many layers to the Chrislies
9:50
Speaker 3: that we've heard that have been alleged and that we
9:56
Speaker 3: know from the process of this crime unfolded, the process
10:01
Speaker 3: of us being able to watch them in their day
10:04
Speaker 3: to day lives, their their rise to fame, as well
10:10
Speaker 3: as seeing how their family operates. So when you have
10:15
Speaker 3: people that are becoming famous in our eyes and in
10:19
Speaker 3: our minds, there has been no secret of their quote
10:25
Speaker 3: unquote open marriage. There have been questions of his sexuality
10:31
Speaker 3: as he's professed his love in maintaining this family they've
10:36
Speaker 3: called Julie. Everything from his beard to his backing to
10:45
Speaker 3: this was all stage for the cameras suite rolling from
10:49
Speaker 3: my I was a fan of the show. I've been
10:52
Speaker 3: a fan of this family because they were like the
10:56
Speaker 3: Southern Kardashians, and so I watched and tuned in just
11:01
Speaker 3: like everyone else. So when these charges that came down,
11:06
Speaker 3: which are serious allegations, and we hear of this whistleblower
11:11
Speaker 3: kind of blowing the cap off of this these alleged crimes.
11:18
Speaker 3: He came with all of his receipts. He came with
11:22
Speaker 3: the fabrications of these documents. He came with, These are
11:27
Speaker 3: the fraudulent bank statements to secure over thirty million dollars
11:31
Speaker 3: in loans. He came with so much receipts that were
11:36
Speaker 3: subsequently and allegedly supported by his daughter, Todd's daughter from
11:44
Speaker 3: a previous marriage, coroborated, allegedly cooborated with with the FBI
11:53
Speaker 3: and the irs when all of this was going down.
11:57
Speaker 3: So they, you know, the stage eight and the cities never,
12:02
Speaker 3: the state never, and the FEDS never look to seek
12:10
Speaker 3: an indictment if they don't have actual facts. And so
12:14
Speaker 3: the whistleblower was just it was. It went beyond disgruntle
12:21
Speaker 3: and went into this is just wrong, this is fabricated,
12:26
Speaker 3: this is fraud.
12:31
Speaker 2: This is insane.
12:32
Speaker 1: Because in August thirteenth and twenty nineteenth, like Cortney said,
12:36
Speaker 1: that's when the Federal Grand Jury in Atlanta indicted Todd
12:39
Speaker 1: and Jilly on twelve counts. Okay, so the twelve counts
12:43
Speaker 1: includes conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, WI You're fraud,
12:47
Speaker 1: conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax evasion. August
12:53
Speaker 1: fourteenth and twenty nineteen is when Todd and Jilly turned
12:56
Speaker 1: themselves in to the FBI in Atlanta and made their
13:00
Speaker 1: first court appearance in the US District Court the same day,
13:04
Speaker 1: and they pled not guilty. That same day, they were
13:08
Speaker 1: released on a one hundred thousand dollars unsecured bond in
13:12
Speaker 1: order to limit travel and avoid contact with witnesses. So
13:18
Speaker 1: the thing is this, when it comes to the million
13:23
Speaker 1: dollar question, right, reality stars launting a certain lifestyle on
13:32
Speaker 1: the show and possibly allegedly with holding money to perpetuate
13:38
Speaker 1: this lifestyle. What are your thoughts in terms of buying
13:45
Speaker 1: into the fact that is it.
13:49
Speaker 2: The reality star who fills the need to keep up
13:53
Speaker 2: with the Jones.
13:53
Speaker 1: Is is it the audience desired to see more of
13:57
Speaker 1: a wealthy lifestyle that makes these people make these decisions
14:02
Speaker 1: and coordiny?
14:03
Speaker 2: Based on what I read, tell me this is you
14:05
Speaker 2: or not. Allegedly these.
14:10
Speaker 1: Tax invasions did not occur until.
14:15
Speaker 2: They were on the show. Is that correct?
14:17
Speaker 3: No? Well, and see from my research and what I've
14:20
Speaker 3: been reading, there was a case. This all started on
14:25
Speaker 3: once they started filming, So it's far season right, the
14:30
Speaker 3: first season the Feds were building a case. It wasn't
14:36
Speaker 3: until twenty nineteen that there were actual facts to support
14:44
Speaker 3: this bank fraud. This fraud, this thirty because you have
14:49
Speaker 3: to understand it's going to take a moment to accumulate
14:53
Speaker 3: thirty million dollars worth of bank fraud. They deep a
14:59
Speaker 3: fraud it several banks over a period of time the show.
15:04
Speaker 3: If you're using your production company to kind of hide
15:09
Speaker 3: money to showcase that hey, we've got these contracts, because
15:15
Speaker 3: again it was based off of false bank statements, So
15:19
Speaker 3: this was an accumulation of time, This was accumulation of documents.
15:26
Speaker 3: I did as much of a deep dive as possible
15:29
Speaker 3: to see if the alleged employee was a producer worked
15:34
Speaker 3: for the chris Lees directly somehow he had access to
15:39
Speaker 3: when I do realize it was a I did find
15:42
Speaker 3: out that it was a mail had access to these
15:45
Speaker 3: documents in order to submit them to both the IRS
15:50
Speaker 3: and the FBI. So this was over a period of time.
15:54
Speaker 3: It looks to me as more wealth. The more wealth
15:58
Speaker 3: they acquired, the more fame they acquired, the more dirt
16:05
Speaker 3: they were doing to secure these to secure these finances
16:11
Speaker 3: to fund this lifestyle, which doesn't really make sense, Carlos,
16:15
Speaker 3: because the more famous they became, the more endorsements they had,
16:19
Speaker 3: the more spinoffs that they had, and the more opportunity.
16:24
Speaker 3: But it really does go to show you that no
16:27
Speaker 3: matter how much money you have, people in certain positions
16:31
Speaker 3: always want more. And I think it was the greed
16:35
Speaker 3: that inevitably got them super caught up.
16:41
Speaker 1: This is reality with the King, and I'm Carlos King.
16:44
Speaker 1: Let's get back into the show. So during the trial,
16:49
Speaker 1: obviously the Colvin was a parent doing this, which led
16:53
Speaker 1: to some delays and yeah, but the trial did begin
16:59
Speaker 1: in May of twenty two, so in federal court in Atlanta,
17:03
Speaker 1: the trial opens up a prosecutors laying out the scheme
17:06
Speaker 1: in detail, forge baked statements, I'm sorry forges, bing records,
17:11
Speaker 1: fake credit scodes, and secret emails. Some of the evidence
17:16
Speaker 1: included whistleblower documents, emails from top requesting falsify financial info,
17:22
Speaker 1: win his testimony with former staffers. The defense tried to
17:28
Speaker 1: argue that the chris Leies were misled by the accountant.
17:31
Speaker 2: The jury wasn't buying it.
17:33
Speaker 1: June seventh of twenty twenty two is when Courtney they
17:37
Speaker 1: were found guilty on allcounts, all counts, after three weeks
17:43
Speaker 1: of testimony. The jury finds both Time and Julie guilty.
17:48
Speaker 1: Shock public milkdown. Savannah went on social media to defend
17:53
Speaker 1: her parents. The sentencing was delayed between October and November
17:57
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. Again, some of this delay was COVID related.
18:04
Speaker 1: On November twenty first of twenty twenty two, that's when
18:08
Speaker 1: Todd was sentenced to twelve years in prison plus sixteen
18:13
Speaker 1: months probation. Julie was sentenced to seven years in prison
18:18
Speaker 1: plus sixteen months probation.
18:20
Speaker 2: Judge Eleanor Ross.
18:21
Speaker 1: Called it a deliberate, long running scheme and emphasized the
18:27
Speaker 1: lack of remorse right.
18:30
Speaker 3: Because immediately when they were charged. Todd himself went on
18:35
Speaker 3: the defense. Julie supported the defense in saying that they
18:39
Speaker 3: blamed the other person. They blamed the whistleblower, they blamed
18:45
Speaker 3: Todd publicly kind of blamed his daughter from a previous marriage,
18:49
Speaker 3: Lindsey chris Lee. But no matter what, there was a
18:55
Speaker 3: lot of evidence. They still could never give way to
19:00
Speaker 3: or explain the emails that came from Todd saying Hey,
19:04
Speaker 3: falsify these documents. This is what I'm up to. And
19:09
Speaker 3: they had bank statements, the actual bank statements versus the
19:13
Speaker 3: bank statements that were submitted for these loans, so they
19:18
Speaker 3: had them on that. Their defense, however, was very crafty
19:23
Speaker 3: in delaying this. Now. No one knew in twenty nineteen
19:28
Speaker 3: that COVID was right around the corner. But part of
19:31
Speaker 3: their strategy was to use this to delay, delay, delay,
19:38
Speaker 3: and during the delay, and I wanted to get your
19:41
Speaker 3: take on this, the cameras were still rolling. We didn't
19:46
Speaker 3: get the illustrious Purp walk. We didn't get to see
19:51
Speaker 3: necessarily them interply, them going back and forth to court.
19:57
Speaker 3: So although we didn't get to see that play out
19:59
Speaker 3: on camera, what we did get to see is headlines
20:04
Speaker 3: their reaction to the things that were happening around them,
20:08
Speaker 3: while USA will silently just keep continuing to renew them.
20:13
Speaker 3: Because keep in mind, they've been building their case since
20:17
Speaker 3: twenty sixteen. They actually were indicted in twenty nineteen, the
20:23
Speaker 3: trial happened. We have now we're in from twenty twelve
20:29
Speaker 3: or twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen, we've had seven seasons
20:34
Speaker 3: of the Presleys before they actually go to jail to
20:38
Speaker 3: start their sentence. They have Finoffs, grown up Presley. They
20:44
Speaker 3: Julie have the cook you know, a cooking show. So
20:47
Speaker 3: they have all of these things and they're interacting with
20:51
Speaker 3: society as if nothing happened. They're avoiding these headlines. The
20:56
Speaker 3: headlines are actually helping them because it's extending their popularity.
21:01
Speaker 3: And all the while we're like, with the cameras rolling,
21:07
Speaker 3: did that feed the beast or did it help protect
21:14
Speaker 3: them or set them up for these potential pardons.
21:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, well that leads me to this because you know
21:23
Speaker 1: they were sentenced November twenty first of twenty twenty two.
21:30
Speaker 1: January seventeenth of twenty twenty three is when they reported
21:35
Speaker 1: to prison. Tod began his sentencing at Federal prison Camp
21:40
Speaker 1: Penscola and Florida. Julie reported to Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky.
21:48
Speaker 1: The show stops production. They were separated. They also tried
21:54
Speaker 1: to do an appeal. June twenty first, twenty twenty four,
21:58
Speaker 1: the Eleventh Circlet upheld the Christmas convictions, but sent Julie's
22:03
Speaker 1: case back for resentencing, reaffirming her seven year sentence.
22:09
Speaker 3: But being crazy, urge Carlos, because an appeals process and
22:15
Speaker 3: not one but two jury said guilty on all accounts.
22:21
Speaker 2: Which is fascinating. So Raine jobs.
22:23
Speaker 1: They did appeal their convictions, come sorry their convictions twice,
22:27
Speaker 1: like Fortny said, the jury said, nope, we believe you.
22:30
Speaker 2: Gods are still guilty.
22:32
Speaker 1: However, May twenty seventh to the twenty eighth of twenty
22:38
Speaker 1: twenty five, President Trump granted full pardons to both Todd
22:44
Speaker 1: and Julie, Chris Lee calling Savannah personally during an old
22:50
Speaker 1: office call announcing the clemency. They were released from prison
22:57
Speaker 1: just hours later, a million while the cams are rolling, allegedly,
23:06
Speaker 1: but do you think this is a case of white privilege?
23:11
Speaker 1: Do you think this is a case of the rich
23:14
Speaker 1: and famous people getting off based on you being.
23:19
Speaker 2: The true crime expert, what are your thoughts on this?
23:23
Speaker 3: Listen, nothing surprises me as producers, as a true crime producer, Listen,
23:33
Speaker 3: nothing surprises me. It becomes sad because you have to
23:36
Speaker 3: see it from both sides. In this case, there's not
23:40
Speaker 3: a victim. There wasn't a murder. The the problem if
23:45
Speaker 3: we were gonna just do this act per act, per act,
23:48
Speaker 3: is they defrauded banks, and so inevitably our taxpayer dollars
23:56
Speaker 3: pay for that. We suffer for that. Tax payers suffer
24:00
Speaker 3: for that when you have these lengthy trials. What people
24:04
Speaker 3: really don't realize is we pay for that, the United
24:09
Speaker 3: States government, We the people inevitably pay for it. So
24:15
Speaker 3: when you have someone who is a jury of their peers,
24:22
Speaker 3: not ours, not our opinions, a jury of their peers
24:26
Speaker 3: found them guilty on all twelve counts, not once, not twice.
24:31
Speaker 3: I do think they're celebrity, and I do think it
24:35
Speaker 3: does not hurt that they're white. But beyond just a
24:41
Speaker 3: race thing, it becomes a crime thing. We're also talking
24:45
Speaker 3: about a white collar crime. We're talking about crimes that
24:49
Speaker 3: deal with banks, fraud, and money, and we're talking about
24:55
Speaker 3: a president who is also a convicted Fellain for similar things,
25:01
Speaker 3: pardoning these personalities based off of his opinion affair versus
25:10
Speaker 3: our our actual facts of deep process. So for me,
25:17
Speaker 3: I wonder, like so many critics, did what she had
25:21
Speaker 3: to do, what Savannah had to do to secure this.
25:26
Speaker 3: You're always thinking of, you know, did you promise you're firstborn?
25:32
Speaker 3: Like what did you have to give up in order
25:35
Speaker 3: to allow your parents to be set free?
25:38
Speaker 2: And then but this is not to cut you off,
25:40
Speaker 2: but this was so fascinating.
25:44
Speaker 1: President Trump in his first term also pardon a few
25:51
Speaker 1: convictions for Kim Kardashian, who was on the.
25:56
Speaker 2: Case trying to release.
26:01
Speaker 1: A few African American individuals who she felt were wrongly
26:05
Speaker 1: convicted or had a very tough sentencing and she wanted
26:10
Speaker 1: to roll it back. There's an infamous picture of Kimberly
26:14
Speaker 1: Noel Kardashian at the Oval office. Cordy said it behind Trump.
26:18
Speaker 1: She never declared her association politically, whether she's the Democrat Republican,
26:26
Speaker 1: But a lot of people said, if Kim Kardashian is
26:29
Speaker 1: thanking the president for releasing these wrongfully convicted individuals, it's.
26:36
Speaker 2: Good pr Now. Savannah chris Ley, the Christie's at one
26:41
Speaker 2: point in time had the number one show in the world.
26:45
Speaker 1: So again, is it a case of this is great
26:50
Speaker 1: pr for the president because if Diddy gets sentenced for
26:57
Speaker 1: a lot of years, is did he somebody that will
27:00
Speaker 1: look at Kimberly Kardashian, the Chris Lees and say, Trump
27:06
Speaker 1: is the president of celebrities who he can help pardon
27:13
Speaker 1: in order for us to be you know, freed, and
27:18
Speaker 1: for him to have some support. Let's be clear, President
27:22
Speaker 1: Trump has a plan after his four years are up,
27:25
Speaker 1: and I do believe a lot of people listen, may
27:30
Speaker 1: have to owe him favors.
27:32
Speaker 3: Absolutely, listen. That's why we haven't seen so much stuff
27:37
Speaker 3: come out in politics right now like they've I'm watching
27:42
Speaker 3: everyone react to the Epstein files that we knew existed,
27:48
Speaker 3: and now they're saying, oh, nothing exists. He was supposed
27:52
Speaker 3: to be listed in them. Oh now he's not listed
27:55
Speaker 3: in him. He's not listed in them at all. But
27:58
Speaker 3: when we talk about privilege, and we have to talk
28:03
Speaker 3: privilege and popularity go hand in hand. Those people who
28:08
Speaker 3: were up for appeal that Kim Kardashian advocated for, it
28:13
Speaker 3: was based their releases were contingent on her popularity, not
28:18
Speaker 3: just their case, it took her advocating for them, buying
28:24
Speaker 3: somewhat possible favors to get those releases. Regardless of those
28:30
Speaker 3: releases happened for black people, they still happened by way
28:35
Speaker 3: of her privilege and her being able to have the
28:39
Speaker 3: ear of this popular popularity contest driven president. So when
28:47
Speaker 3: we look at the case of Savannah advocating for her parents' clemency,
28:54
Speaker 3: she was outright with her support of President Trump. Was
29:00
Speaker 3: walking around at the RNC Republican National Convention wearing the
29:06
Speaker 3: hat big advocate for I'm gonna do whatever it takes
29:10
Speaker 3: to get my parents free even though they were guilty.
29:16
Speaker 3: Now Todd and Julie remain you know, they say they pled,
29:20
Speaker 3: not guilty, but they were found guilty twice. So there
29:24
Speaker 3: becomes the bigger question that I have and that I
29:28
Speaker 3: base so much of my opinion, not just on the facts,
29:32
Speaker 3: but my opinion on is it fair when you have
29:36
Speaker 3: been rightfully convicted and found guilty to be set free
29:43
Speaker 3: due to your popularity.
29:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think that's a fair question based upon
29:50
Speaker 1: the fact that, you know, one of the things that
29:54
Speaker 1: the Chrisly's case has shown us is the fact of love.
30:00
Speaker 1: They play their inmm syst from day one. They never
30:02
Speaker 1: wavered from it, ever wavered from it. Some people do feel,
30:10
Speaker 1: meaning celebrities, that being famous has a lot of perps,
30:14
Speaker 1: but in the court of law you are made an
30:16
Speaker 1: example out of Teresa Judais was sentenced for a year
30:21
Speaker 1: in prison due to something her husband did, but because
30:25
Speaker 1: she signed documents that her husband put in front of.
30:27
Speaker 2: Her face, she got a year.
30:29
Speaker 1: A lot of people felt everybody, all the legal experts
30:32
Speaker 1: said that was super hard. They thought she would get
30:35
Speaker 1: probation because no evidence showed that Teresa actively knew what.
30:42
Speaker 2: Was going on and was helped orchestrating it.
30:45
Speaker 1: So a lot of people do feel Courtney in their defense,
30:47
Speaker 1: that if you are a celebrity in the court of law,
30:50
Speaker 1: you will be used as an example, which is why
30:53
Speaker 1: Teresa's daughter, Jia Judais, who posted on her Instagram page
30:58
Speaker 1: recently that she was writing a letter to President Trump
31:05
Speaker 1: in order for her father to be pardoned so that
31:10
Speaker 1: he's able Courtney to come back to the United States, right,
31:17
Speaker 1: So go.
31:18
Speaker 3: Ahead, And I think that is a very different thing
31:21
Speaker 3: than what we're seeing with the Kreslies, primarily because they
31:27
Speaker 3: served the time that was given to them. The difference
31:30
Speaker 3: between Teresa and Joe versus Todd and Julie is they
31:39
Speaker 3: served their time, they were found guilty. They you know,
31:43
Speaker 3: they did the They did the time, and they're owning
31:47
Speaker 3: their crime. Teresa, you know, even though she felt like
31:54
Speaker 3: and the most of the public, including myself, felt like,
31:56
Speaker 3: she shouldn't have gotten such a harsh uh what we
32:01
Speaker 3: call the Martha Stewart treatment year, she did it. She
32:06
Speaker 3: did it. She returned to grace from she returned from
32:11
Speaker 3: her fall of grace, and now she is actively trying
32:15
Speaker 3: to make a better way the crest. Listen, I think
32:20
Speaker 3: it's ideal for Gia to just try to get her
32:25
Speaker 3: father back into the USA, to see him, to have
32:30
Speaker 3: a relationship. He doesn't have just one daughter, he has
32:33
Speaker 3: they have four daughters together. So that is an ask
32:40
Speaker 3: that if this popular president would pardon, would be a
32:46
Speaker 3: worthy pardon because again, they they didn't plead not guilty.
32:52
Speaker 3: They own the crimes that they did, and he was
32:56
Speaker 3: he was sent away and he has ties not just
33:03
Speaker 3: financial ties to the United States, he has family ties
33:06
Speaker 3: to the United States. Sonna, It's gonna be interesting to
33:10
Speaker 3: see how this plays out. The bigger question and concern though,
33:14
Speaker 3: is what tone we're setting. But these reality stars that
33:18
Speaker 3: are actually guilty of these crimes to now get slapped
33:22
Speaker 3: on the wrist and able to keep their wealth and fortune.
33:28
Speaker 3: Todd was recently quoted in saying, I'm not apologizing for
33:32
Speaker 3: money I earned when two sets of jurors say, no,
33:40
Speaker 3: you were, those emails came from you. Your accountant didn't
33:45
Speaker 3: mislead you. The whistleblower that may have allegedly included his
33:50
Speaker 3: daughter all said these things occurred, and now you're backshop
33:55
Speaker 3: and living your life of luxury as if this didn't happen.
34:02
Speaker 2: Getting back to Jia.
34:03
Speaker 1: So just so I'm able to explain to the range
34:06
Speaker 1: jobs what happened. As you all know, Joe Judas, Teresa
34:10
Speaker 1: judai Sis ex husband was deported in twenty nineteen after
34:16
Speaker 1: spending forty one months behind bars for mail while you're
34:20
Speaker 1: a bankruptcy fraud. Jia with her Instagram she's twenty four
34:25
Speaker 1: years old, she shared a passionate plea to President Trump
34:30
Speaker 1: asking for him to bring her dad home.
34:34
Speaker 2: Courtney.
34:35
Speaker 1: She said, I quote, my name is Jia judaics I'm
34:38
Speaker 1: the daughter of Joe Judas, and today I'm using my
34:42
Speaker 1: voice for something deeply personal, not just as a public figure,
34:48
Speaker 1: but as a daughter who deeply who.
34:51
Speaker 2: Deeply misses her dad.
34:53
Speaker 1: Jia said her family has lived in an emotional limbo
34:58
Speaker 1: ever since her father's deportation, and adding Courtney and I quote,
35:02
Speaker 1: no matter how strong we try to be, the absence
35:06
Speaker 1: of a father, of a parent is something that never
35:10
Speaker 1: stops hurting. She ben Courtney shows herself with the envelope
35:16
Speaker 1: that she sent to the White House. She addressed it,
35:18
Speaker 1: hashtaged it because she's a millennial child, hashtag bring Joe home, and.
35:26
Speaker 2: She in Coortney.
35:27
Speaker 1: She did say watching the Christly family receive a second
35:31
Speaker 1: chance inspired me.
35:32
Speaker 2: It showed me that.
35:33
Speaker 1: People can be forgiven, that families can be restored, and
35:37
Speaker 1: that sometimes the justice system.
35:40
Speaker 2: Has room for grace.
35:44
Speaker 1: Does Joe Judi's Courtney Parker deserve to come to the
35:49
Speaker 1: United States.
35:50
Speaker 2: And be pardoned?
35:52
Speaker 3: I do now Again, I do feel what her request
35:57
Speaker 3: is because again he did his time. They and Teresa
36:02
Speaker 3: did her time. We're not talking about people who wanted,
36:06
Speaker 3: who were looking for a way out. They actually did
36:10
Speaker 3: their time. He's looking for a second chance. I don't
36:14
Speaker 3: personally feel the Kresleys are given getting a second chance.
36:20
Speaker 3: I believe they're getting a slap on the wrist because
36:26
Speaker 3: the crime that they committed and were found guilty again
36:30
Speaker 3: now once but twice, they didn't serve even half of
36:35
Speaker 3: the length of the time that they actually got for
36:38
Speaker 3: those twelve counts. Joe served his time and then was deported.
36:44
Speaker 3: He has four daughters now living in the United States,
36:47
Speaker 3: no matter if they're famous or not. Like she said,
36:50
Speaker 3: she has been working. She's one of the stars of
36:54
Speaker 3: this new show. She shouldn't be punished from not being
36:59
Speaker 3: able to see her That, plus the other kids not
37:02
Speaker 3: being able to see their father when they want to.
37:07
Speaker 3: They can always go to Italy to visit him, but
37:10
Speaker 3: it's not the same. So he shouldn't be completely ostracized
37:16
Speaker 3: from the United States and out of his girl's life
37:19
Speaker 3: for things that he has done, that he served his
37:22
Speaker 3: time for and is building a better life where he
37:26
Speaker 3: is now. I do think that if any pardons are
37:31
Speaker 3: to be had, it should be for Joe. So I'm
37:34
Speaker 3: on a gsteam saying hashtag free her Daddy Joe. Joe,
37:44
Speaker 3: I'm I have to take a step back and just
37:47
Speaker 3: say it. I'm cautious of how society is going. If
37:54
Speaker 3: if fame is actually fair. Who else is going to
38:00
Speaker 3: get slaps on the wrist and not be held accountable
38:03
Speaker 3: for the things that they do, and we as reality
38:07
Speaker 3: show producers capitalizing off of that. I know it makes
38:12
Speaker 3: for great storyline. I'm assuming quickly that they will resume shooting.
38:21
Speaker 3: We're going to follow the Kresleyes uh as with this
38:27
Speaker 3: post conviction and since again he shows to do to
38:33
Speaker 3: this day no remorse. He was doing an interview I
38:37
Speaker 3: believe with people where he said where he talked very
38:41
Speaker 3: openly about his own privilege and how people were in there.
38:45
Speaker 3: He didn't he wasn't doing, you know, the the work
38:49
Speaker 3: there because he was he refused to get paid uh
38:53
Speaker 3: slave wagers. He just was like I'm better than this
38:59
Speaker 3: and and no. And now that I'm out, he went shopping.
39:04
Speaker 3: They got their roots done. I'm like, come on, it's.
39:07
Speaker 2: Not the high lifestyle.
39:10
Speaker 3: It's like, come on, So what is that saying as society?
39:16
Speaker 3: And what does that say about popularity? Even with the
39:22
Speaker 3: respect to our industry of reality TV? Like what do
39:28
Speaker 3: we do the cameras want to follow they should be
39:31
Speaker 3: following because we want to know as audience members, but
39:34
Speaker 3: as as just a consciousness of accountability. Do you believe
39:40
Speaker 3: that production should take a stand or should production just
39:45
Speaker 3: be fair to the stories unfolding at hand.
39:49
Speaker 2: Yes, well you know how I feel. I'm a journalist,
39:52
Speaker 2: hey Porsche, and.
39:54
Speaker 1: Similar to you, studied communication journalism in college. I I
40:00
Speaker 1: believe in the ethics of journalism, which is your personal
40:06
Speaker 1: opinion does not impact.
40:08
Speaker 2: The story how you feel.
40:10
Speaker 1: Barbara Walters interviewed so many people from mass murderers, the
40:17
Speaker 1: Menandez brothers, dignitaries of other nations who have done some
40:23
Speaker 1: horrible things.
40:24
Speaker 2: She never imposed her personal opinion. She got the story.
40:28
Speaker 1: I feel like that when it comes to reality television
40:31
Speaker 1: my granted, with that being.
40:32
Speaker 2: Said, there are some elements of like.
40:36
Speaker 1: With that being said, I also do not believe at
40:38
Speaker 1: all that people should be on camera spewing hate, racism, sexism.
40:46
Speaker 2: I don't believe in that at all. So I want
40:48
Speaker 2: to make that very clear too.
40:49
Speaker 1: In this case of the chrislies being free, Listen, I
40:55
Speaker 1: understand as producer, you're getting the story. Just like Barbara
40:59
Speaker 1: Walters made sure she got the exclusive interview in prison
41:07
Speaker 1: Courtney with the Menindaz brothers.
41:09
Speaker 2: She wanted the exclusive and cameras followed, is it.
41:13
Speaker 1: Getting alleged murderers promotion or are you or as a
41:19
Speaker 1: media you're just telling the story. I'll follow one of
41:23
Speaker 1: those guidelines, which is why I was definitely front and
41:29
Speaker 1: center when Teresa was released from prison and the cameras
41:36
Speaker 1: captured the moment she walked in the house and saw
41:39
Speaker 1: her daughters, and there was not a dry eye in
41:42
Speaker 1: the room.
41:43
Speaker 2: I would have done the same thing.
41:44
Speaker 1: So yeah, I feel like, listen, there's no one size
41:50
Speaker 1: fit all approach for any of these situations. But I
41:54
Speaker 1: definitely think fundamentally you have to look at the situation
41:57
Speaker 1: and see if it's an opportunity.
42:03
Speaker 2: One more example would.
42:04
Speaker 1: Be I'm gonna butcher Butcher the name, but Courtney is
42:09
Speaker 1: also somebody who watches lots of Lifetime in addition to.
42:16
Speaker 2: Documentary movies about people's lives.
42:18
Speaker 1: Is the woman who killed her mother because she was
42:24
Speaker 1: drugged into thinking she was handicapped.
42:27
Speaker 2: And I've got her name.
42:30
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
42:32
Speaker 1: I'm not on a second and she had a reality
42:35
Speaker 1: show but she got released right Well.
42:39
Speaker 3: Listen, they're saying, Todd and Julie are already projecting their
42:45
Speaker 3: future plans. The couple intends to launch a new lifetime
42:48
Speaker 3: docuseries and convert a mansion into a hotel in South
42:54
Speaker 3: Carolina so cameras will be watching. My concern is i'mse
43:03
Speaker 3: Gypsy Rose. My concern like you, as a producer, I
43:10
Speaker 3: think everybody is entitled to tell their story. As a person,
43:16
Speaker 3: I do wonder about the message and messages we're sending
43:23
Speaker 3: when someone's privilege is front and center and it's allowing
43:30
Speaker 3: certain things to take precedence over real accountability for crimes
43:37
Speaker 3: actually committed. In Jia's case, again, we saw them go
43:42
Speaker 3: through everything they were that was handed to them, from
43:47
Speaker 3: the sentencing to the deportation to the reconciliation. Because there's
43:53
Speaker 3: still a lot of work that has to be done
43:56
Speaker 3: to capture that in real time. Was a mon to
44:02
Speaker 3: see this unfold, and trust me, I know both you
44:06
Speaker 3: and I both will be watching to see it. But
44:11
Speaker 3: they're also going to capitalize on the moment. And really
44:16
Speaker 3: there's the gratitude from this administration from the Presley family
44:21
Speaker 3: to the reward. I kind of worry about the reward
44:27
Speaker 3: of these kind of gardents. But again, I'll be watching,
44:33
Speaker 3: I'll be watching.
44:34
Speaker 2: You can already.
44:35
Speaker 3: See this is a massive storyline if you're going to
44:39
Speaker 3: convert a mansion, you're going to deflect and then distract
44:43
Speaker 3: us with this show where Todd is going to be Todd,
44:48
Speaker 3: Julie is going to be Julie, and the kids are
44:50
Speaker 3: going to be the kids. The reunion, I don't know
44:54
Speaker 3: if I's USA or now which is peacock. NBC is
44:59
Speaker 3: going to redo or renew or bring back the show
45:03
Speaker 3: we'll all be watching. Do I think they deserve a
45:07
Speaker 3: second chance. Perhaps everybody deserves the second chance. I just
45:13
Speaker 3: wish from a legal standpoint, they would have been held
45:19
Speaker 3: to greater accountability before we all just sit here and
45:22
Speaker 3: celebrate their release.
45:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, one hundred. Since so they have been released.
45:28
Speaker 1: We will see when the show will be released, and listen.
45:32
Speaker 1: Gia Judais got the post to stamp Child and went
45:36
Speaker 1: to the local mailbox and.
45:39
Speaker 2: She sent it off this out right welcome out.
45:43
Speaker 1: Handbrint it hashtag bring Joe Home Child, in addition to
45:48
Speaker 1: addressed it to sixteen hundred Sylvania happenue.
45:51
Speaker 2: After help me shall see what happens?
45:55
Speaker 1: And has more things unfold, Courtney Parker and I will
45:59
Speaker 1: be back to give you guys more So, thank you
46:01
Speaker 1: for another great episode of our weekly episode Reality Crimes
46:08
Speaker 1: Stories with court Meey Parker.
46:12
Speaker 3: Thank you, Carlos, thank you, rain Drops.
46:16
Speaker 1: See you next week, next week. Reality with the King
46:23
Speaker 1: is executive produced by Me Carlos King, produced by Lizzie Nimitz,
46:28
Speaker 1: and a partnership.
46:29
Speaker 2: With the Lack Effect Network.
46:32
Speaker 1: You can also find us on my YouTube channel at
46:35
Speaker 1: the Carlos King Underscore