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Welcome back to this week's episode of Unlocked. First and foremost, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone that has taken the time to listen to Unlocked. Because of you, it has been such a success.
The past few months have been absolutely insane and our following has just continued to multiply, especially on TikTok, Instagram, all the platforms, YouTube. So thank you, thank you, thank you. There are a lot of new faces around here and I'm just so happy you have come to hear my story, my family's story and...
follow along the journey because Lord knows it's a very, um, it's a roller coaster, tons of ups, tons of downs. Just it's just life. So thank you so much. And the coming weeks, I have some really awesome guests coming on that I cannot wait to share with you. We are kind of going to be going into a little criminal justice.
The next few weeks, we have Alice Marie Johnson coming on. And if you don't know her, she is a woman that Kim Kardashian worked with to help get pardoned. And her story is absolutely insane. I got the pleasure of sitting with her at a women's luncheon a few weeks ago. And it was such a God thing that we were
sitting next to each other. And honestly, that we were both there. And you will hear that story in our episode. I cannot wait to film that. She is just an angel on earth.
We have a guy by the name of Jamal Truelove coming on the podcast and trying to nail down my lawyer, Brett Tolman, for an episode because you guys seem to love those episodes with the lawyers to hear their perspective, where things are at, where they've been, where they're going. His story is pretty insane, just his career as a whole and what he's doing. We're doing that, but
This episode is actually, that we're filming now, is actually going to air on August 13th. So that is a week from today. And for those who don't know, my birthday is August 11th. So I figured let's do an episode to start off this next year of my life, give you guys a
some insight into where my life's at, hopes, dreams, aspirations on what I hope to happen this year. We're gonna try to start this year off with a bang. Hopefully it's a good one too, because Lord knows we don't like a bad bang, okay? Oh God. Yeah, no, I'm not gonna ask you to take that out. I just didn't mean for that to come across the way that it came across.
Yeah, Sean saw that coming from a mile away, but I did not. So let's, yeah. Anyways, August 11th is my birthday. I will be 27 years old, which is wild because I feel like I'm 37 after the past two years of my life, but it's okay. Um,
I will say for my birthday, my mom has always been the one to make my birthday like so special, celebrate it. And it's really hard not having her here. Holidays suck in general when you have a loved one that is not here with you, whether that person has passed away or you just don't have the ability to be together on a day-to-day basis or really communicate that well. So it's tough. We're getting...
it's getting easy. I don't know if it's getting easier. Honestly, I just think it's becoming our new norm. And this next year, I kinda, I'm trying to figure out what my intention for the year is going to be. I know that I, the past like year of my life, my word was intention, like intentionality, be more intentional about
the words you say, the actions, just everything. Because when you're more intentional, I believe that ventures become more fruitful, whether that's relationships, job opportunities, whatever it may be. If you are intentional, I believe you will bear the fruit of that. And this next year,
It's kind of crazy to see how this past year is wrapping up for me and the opportunities that have been thrown my way. I never in a million years thought I would be in some of the rooms that I'm in right now and meeting the people that I'm meeting. But I am, I'm going to end up going out to Utah at some point to speak with a senator. He's reached out to me and asked me if I would come and speak at an event.
And when I was asked that, I was kind of mind blown. I was like, holy cow. I never in a million years thought that this is where my life would lead. But I've had a lot of people asking me on social media, do I want to get involved in politics? Do I see that as a life for me or the pathway to
that I'm kind of going down. And never in a million years did I think this is where my life would lead. But I am very grateful that this is where my life has led because at the end of my life, I want to be known as someone who has changed people's lives. I want to be known as someone who has made lasting change. And again, this is not a Democrat Republican thing.
I just, I know where my heart's at and I know the things that I want to see happen. And I'm going to have to be working with people on both sides of the aisle to hopefully come to some common ground when it comes to criminal justice reform as a whole and the things that I hope to see accomplished because we do have a system that is so incredibly broken. And
With that being said, I think it is so important right now, especially during an election year to be more intentional about your relationships because my friends, I have friends from all walks of life. Some of us have the exact same views. Some of us have totally different views. I mean, my best, best friends,
There are some that believe totally opposite of me, but yet we still have such an amazing friendship and bond because we take time to understand where someone else is coming from. You don't have to agree with someone to understand where they're coming from. And this next year, I hope and pray that
you guys become more intentional about your relationships and don't allow politics to ruin those relationships. Because let's face it, we all have one vote, okay? We all have one vote. That's it. So is that worth losing people who you truly love and care about, who have shown up for you time and time again, and who are basically family to you?
To me, it's not. It's not worth losing those relationships over. And so I'm having to become more intentional about those relationships. And I would just encourage you guys to do the same.
You don't, it's been, I will say through my social media channels, I have endured a lot of hate recently. I've endured a lot of positivity and encouragement, but also a lot of hate. And that should not be the world that we live in. We all are different. That's what makes our world go round, okay? If we were all the same,
The world that we live in would be just, ugh, okay? We all bring something different to the table. And there are a lot of people who, if you don't believe exactly what they believe, you're a terrible person and I don't want to have anything to do with you. That, in my opinion, is a very ignorant viewpoint because...
We all believe what we believe due to our own life circumstances, our own life experiences. That's what leads us to believe what we believe. Obviously with both of my parents being in prison, I'm going to be a huge advocate for criminal justice reform. Something I was not knowledgeable about before. Something I did not take the time to understand. Why? Because it didn't affect me. And that's just where we're at. So,
I hope this year during this election year, you pay close attention to your relationships and your friendships and have tough conversations that lead to growth and not separation. Because I know that is going to be top of my priority list this year is paying really close attention to those friendships with people who don't believe the same as I do and vice versa. So
Just remember that. Please, please, please. There is no politician that's worth you losing the people who have always been there for you and the people that you love and respect.
If you've listened to the podcast for a while, then you know my life is absolutely insane. It is 24/7. I have a gazillion different jobs, taking care of kids and also going and visiting mom and dad. And when it comes to mom and dad, I can actually send them letters or for mom, I can send her books. But in order to do that, I have
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With my birthday coming up, I just like to think of this next year. I don't know if it's... I don't know, honestly. Like, I look at 27 and there's so many things I hope to happen. I hope and pray that mom and dad come home. I hope and pray that a...
have the ability to make lasting change. I know that I'm working with my lawyers and another group of people to put some initiatives in place that I have come up with. I'm partnering with pray.com. There are so many things that I hope to see come to fruition. And I hope 27 is a year full of growth and rebuilding and
Giving myself also a little grace to not have to be perfect and accomplish all these things in 365 days. It's going to take time. But when it comes to mom coming home, it's so crazy. The dreams that I have had recently, I have not spoken about this, but I
I don't really dream first off. I don't wake up and like remember my dreams. I cannot tell you the last time before recently that I have actually had vivid dreams. But the past few weeks, ever since we got the, you know, ever since we got the word on the appeal and mom's resentencing,
I have been having like the same dreams over and over again. And that dream is mom at home, like mom at home and me just saying like, hey, we're gonna we're gonna figure this out. I'm here. Here's this. Here's that. Like it's it's
It's so weird because it's just like she's at home and everything was back to normal are the dreams that I've had. And the night before last, I had a dream of her taking Chloe to get her hair done. And I was like, thank God you're back. Thank God. I just looked at her and was like, thank God. And I hope and pray that that is God's way of speaking to me, telling me that
this too shall end. Like this is coming to an end and she's going to be home sooner rather than later. Because that's the only dreams that I've had recently is just her coming home and her being at home to the point that like I wake up and I'm kind of like disoriented and I'm like, wait, what is happening? Because it feels so real. And I'm trying not to get my hopes up
because let's face it, a lot of things within this legal battle have not gone our way. So I expect the worst and anything else that is better than that is a win. But I don't know if I've done a podcast since we heard back from the, actually I did, I did a podcast after we heard back from the appeals court. And for people that haven't listened to that, it basically just says that
the appeals court could not find the evidence used to convict mom in the bank fraud. And that is that 17 million. And that's also another thing that people want to say, 30 million, 36 million, all this stuff. That was a number that was thrown out by the government to incite anger, to make them seem like these huge fraudsters and, and,
That's they wanted that tagline. It's what the government does and then it trial within a snap of a finger They came down to 17 million and that number is not even accurate. It's just not and When I say that people are gonna say oh, so you're saying that they actually did commit fraud No, that is not what I'm saying. There were legitimate bank loans This was back in 08 and
during the crash. There were some legitimate bank loans and there were some false bank loans, but those false bank loans were, they originated from my dad's former business partner, Mark Braddock. So Mark was the one, he got on the stand at trial and said, I did all of these things. They were at the instruction of, no, I did all these things, but they were at the instruction or Todd knew of it.
So the government gave him full blanket immunity. That means that he cannot be charged for a single crime that he committed, which is absolutely insane. So he is working with the government and they didn't want him because he didn't have, he wasn't this big personality. It wasn't going to get them the headlines that they wanted.
That's just that's a whole other story in itself. So no, I'm not saying my parents committed any fraud. I will continue to fight for their innocence and but it's it's very complex because there's this man who was my dad's former business partner who was embezzling money from the company who then had to turn around and make the company look like it was profiting money so dad didn't catch on to the fraud scheme that he that Mark was running and
It's unfortunate because my parents took the brunt. They took the fall. They're the ones sitting in prison for a combined 19 years. During '08, when the crash happened, there was a lot of businesses, a lot of personal entities, people who were filing for bankruptcy because they had no other choice. They could not pay their loans. They defaulted no matter how hard they tried.
The economy was, we were in a recession. Very, very similar to where I believe we're going to find ourselves again very, very soon. And that's what led to my father filing for bankruptcy. Went through bankruptcy court. It was a very long process. And during bankruptcy court, everything is looked through with a fine tooth comb. They look at every loan, every bank account,
every credit card statement. I mean, every little thing and never one time were there allegations of bankruptcy fraud. If there was any fraud going on, they would have discovered it then. So the case is very, very complex. And obviously we settled with
the Georgia Department of Revenue in that case. And with that case, you can actually go online and find where the Office of Inspector General did an investigation and ruled with us on the majority of our claims. I would say 85% of our claims, they ruled in our favor.
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The file number for it, if you want to read it, is 20-0032-I. And the agency is the Georgia Department of Revenue. The investigation was opened February 27th of 2020. And the date of the report was September 20th, 2021.
And this will show you it's a 30 page investigation from the inspector general. And you have the background, the basis of the investigation, action taken and furtherance of the investigation, the allegations, findings and results.
And this is what's, there were three unsubstantiated claims, but they never denied them. They were just unsubstantiated claims.
But for number one, Department of Revenue, OSI, violated state law. So first off, this investigation, because a lot of you have been asking me questions about this. I did a question and answer on my Instagram yesterday. And a lot of people are confused when it comes to the state case and the feds case. The state case,
started back in 2012, somewhere around there. They started investigating. And if it was not for the state case, there would never be a feds case. And the state and the feds worked hand in hand. It was a very, very, very messy case. There was a point in time to where Georgia Department of Revenue agent or OSI agent Joshua Waits, he
sent a text message at some point in time to another individual who was involved in the case that likes to deny their involvement in the case. He sent a text message to this individual saying, Todd's going to need, looks like Todd's going to need a different lawyer than what he's used to.
And this person responded and said, what does that mean? And he said, we have a meeting with the feds next week. So they were working hand in hand on this case. And the state turned over a lot of stuff to the feds. But the state case was very, very tainted because there was so much corruption there. They destroyed evidence.
If you go to my father's Instagram and go back a few years now, he actually posted audio recordings from the commissioner and a bunch of other higher ups in the state of Georgia talking about wiping government devices clean of anything that has to do with the Chrisley case and admitting that they knew what they were about to do was illegal.
And I believe that's why the book got thrown at my parents because of all the things we were uncovering. So that's kind of the explanation between the state case and the feds case.
Unfortunately, at the federal trial, the judge would not allow us to speak on any of the corruption that was going on at the state level, which I do not believe was fair because there would never have been a federal case if it wasn't for the state. So that's that explanation. But the Department of Revenue, OSI, violated state law by failing to properly remit state asset forfeiture funds to the state general fund.
Number two, OSI personnel abused the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FENCEN, by submitting a false certification. Number three, Director Waits violated state procurement rules by purchasing a 2015 Ford F-250 Super Duty truck. Yes, use state funds to purchase a new truck. OSI improperly issued agency vehicles for personal use by civilian employees.
Number five, director Waits and other senior Department of Revenue personnel posed for photographs on furniture seized from Todd Chrisley. So they actually would find photos of dad laying on his bed or sitting in a chair on the show and they would find that furniture and mimic how dad was sitting. Mind blowing. It was a weird, creepy obsession that went on.
A conflict, number six, a conflict of interest existed when Pippin's Barbecue, a restaurant owned by Department of Revenue Commissioner David Curry, catered the 2019 DOR OSI Christmas party. Number seven, DOR failed to implement proper internal controls governing the management of a bank account created for use in undercover criminal investigations.
Number eight, DOR failed to implement proper internal controls governing the management of mobile devices. Number nine, they say is unsubstantiated. DOR personnel engaged in undisclosed personal relationships. Number 10, unsubstantiated DOR OSI improperly utilized state asset forfeiture funds to pay an OSI employee for landscaping services.
And for people, this is kind of like the basis for the whole investigation. Because a lot of you are probably wondering, okay, why is this important? Well, first off, if you live in the state of Georgia, you need to know the corruption that is occurring. Number two, when you start to hear the basis of this investigation, it's going to cause you to question every piece of evidence that the government set forth.
And the basis for the investigation.
January 24th, 2020, former Deputy Attorney General David McLaughlin referred to OIG a complaint his office received from Chris Anolowitz, partner at Balch and Bingham LLP. The complaint alleged Director Waits falsified an employment application and lied about his educational history. Anolowitz obtained the information through open records request while representing Todd Chrisley in a civil lawsuit filed against Director Waits.
Following receipt of the initial complaint, OIG met with Anulowitz on February 4th, 2020 to gather additional details concerning the falsified application. Anulowitz raised other allegations against Director Waits, including concerns with Director Waits' background, prior complaints filed by private citizens against Director Waits, and use of state asset forfeiture funds collected by DOR through civil asset forfeiture.
OIG opened an administrative and criminal investigation into the matter. Initially,
Initially, OIG limited the investigation to Director Waits' employment application. OIG eventually determined that Director Waits provided false information on the July 2015 employment application related to his appointment as director of the OSI. Specifically, Director Waits represented that he had obtained an associate's degree in criminal justice from the University of Northwest Florida.
OIG verified through interviews with Director Waits and the National Student Clearinghouse that Director Waits does not have a degree from the University of Northwest Florida or any other educational institution. OIG referred the matter to the prosecution division of the Attorney General's Office to review and prosecute.
After concluding the initial investigation, OIG opened a second administrative and criminal investigation to address remaining allegations, including a review of Director Waite's leadership of OSI. This, in turn, led to new allegations concerning other DOR personnel. The scope of this report is limited to the administrative aspects of this second investigation, including a substantive review of the most
material allegations and OIG findings. In addition, in furtherance of its agency mandate, OIG offers several recommendations for DOR's consideration. So they will go into how they investigated this, the allegations. Oh, let's see. I want to find some of these. Okay. However, this is how they spent the, how they
failed to properly remit state asset forfeiture funds. This is absolutely insane. Under the leadership of Director Waits, DOROSI failed to properly remit
over $5 million collected via state asset forfeiture from July 1st, 2015 to the date of Director Waite's termination on March 11th, 2020. Instead, DOR OSI spent approximately $3,129,123
$3,129,122.40 on what DOR OSI deemed proper prosecutorial purposes. These purchases included reimbursements for work-related travel expenses, software licenses for forensic computer equipment, and payments for financial institutions for records produced in response to legal processes. However, several expenditures were at
questionable, and would likely be deemed wasteful and unnecessary. These purchases included but were not limited to $6,660 on Fitbit devices for DOR personnel, approximately $40,000 on fitness equipment, approximately $321,000 for office furniture, approximately $800,000 on vehicles.
each purchase made by dor osi using civil asset forfeiture funds was unlawful oig did not conduct a full audit of all expenditures i yeah which is absolutely there should have been i i appreciate the investigation that they did but if they would have gone into it even further they would have found so much more corruption um and then when you go
Down into, I just, you're going to have to read this investigation for yourself because they quote people who they interviewed. They have internal emails about,
Um, they have the photos of this agent in the furniture that my, like sitting next to text messages of him sending photos of him and furniture being like, Hey, look at me in Todd's bed. Really weird. Really, really weird. Um, I mean, it's literally right here. You see them
You can't make it up. And again, this is a OIG report. You can find it all public records. So I'm not saying anything that can't be substantiated. They interviewed witnesses. It's just mind blowing. So a lot of you asked that question, difference between state and feds. So if it wasn't for the state case, there would never be a federal case. The state case was...
so it was just riddled with so much corruption and consistencies. I mean, you can't, who knows what would have happened if the state would have actually been held accountable. There would have never been a federal case in my opinion. So,
Hope and pray you guys do your research into these things, because obviously I spoke at a convention. I had a lot of positive feedback, some negative feedback, people not really understanding where I was coming from. This investigation started under a completely different administration back in 2012. And.
Obviously, we were just given a really crappy hand of cards. So I am going to continue to see this through. I'm going to continue to see that the people that were involved in our case are held responsible.
responsible. Because until that happens, God only knows how many other people this has happened to. So if you're listening to my podcast and you are in the state of Georgia and something similar happened to you or you had a run in with people that you see in this OIG report, please, please, please contact me or my publicist. Her information is in my Instagram bio because I would love to hear your story and
see how I could potentially help you or how our case could potentially help you because the corruption it does, it runs deep. I used to think, oh my God, people that say that you're just mad because you were found guilty. No, I'm telling you one in 20 criminal cases result in a wrongful conviction. I would argue that it's more than that. So
my rant that I've been on, I guess we could say 27 is hopefully going to be filled with holding people accountable and me continuing to educate myself on our justice system and the ins and outs, how it operates and how we
how I can help other people and help bring justice to families who are enduring the unthinkable because I want to make my 20s. I'm just going to write off. Okay. Let's just, let's just call it that. My 20s, they've been rough. Okay. I've had a lot of hurt, a lot of trauma, a lot of just, whoop, just, just downhill, just downhill. So I'm
I'm going to save the celebrations for 30 and on. I am going to use 20s, my 20s as my building years to hopefully get to where I wanna get to. And this year, I don't know how I'm gonna celebrate. When you hear this, it'll be a day or two after my birthday. So I'm pretty sure we're just gonna have a chill low key birthday celebration with the kids. And I may go see mom the Friday before that.
And yeah, that's pretty much where I'm at. So I hope you guys enjoyed this little breakdown. I will post on my Instagram the day this comes out a link to that OIG report so you can help to educate yourself. And until next time, I again appreciate you guys listening to the podcast. And we're going to be going into our criminal justice reform series.
Side of things, you're actually going to hear from a wife next week. You're going to hear from a wife of a man who is currently incarcerated at FPC Pensacola. I felt like it was time you guys heard some of the abuse and corruption that is going on from someone other than me.
because sometimes it sounds like a broken record and it's hard for you guys to believe that what I'm saying is actually accurate. So you're gonna hear from this wife and then we're gonna go into Jamal Truelove, Alice Marie Johnson, hopefully some lawyers of mine and give you guys a breakdown of just other people's stories and the injustices that have happened to them and then their redemption moments and where they're at in life now.
I love you guys. Thank you. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can watch the episodes there. You can see it in video or you can listen on any podcast app. So thank you. And until next time, God bless.
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What if I told you that I just walked away from a wonderful and very high-profile fitness brand to pursue bigger dreams? And I broke away from my own golden handcuffs to pursue a more artistic life. What's up? I'm Kendall Toole. And I'm Gailey Alex. And we are so excited to share our new podcast,
We'll be right back.
and talking with you through building careers, self-worth, relationships. Oh, and get some good laughs, please. Or tears. There's tears. That's true. There's always tears. That's true. All with our hearts on the line. So if this sounds additive to your journey, we are here for you. Join us every week on Wholeheartedly with Kendall and Gailey. Wholeheartedly will be available July 17th. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcast.