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June 5, 2025 13 mins

Episode Title:

Episode Audio Link: https://podcast.ablackexec.com/episode/From Chrisley’s to Corrupt Sheriffs: Why Justice Isn't Equal

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In this episode of Need to Know, Dr. Nsenga Burton dives into the controversial pardons of reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, alongside a corrupt Virginia sheriff, raising critical questions about who truly benefits from America’s justice system.

Dr. Burton exposes the deep inequities that allow the wealthy and well-connected to skirt accountability, while everyday people face harsh penalties for far less serious crimes. From media influence to political favoritism, she unpacks how privilege and proximity to power warp justice. This eye-opening conversation challenges listeners to confront the uncomfortable truths about systemic bias—and why real reform must go beyond headlines.


▶︎ In This Episode

00:00: Introduction and Welcome

00:20: The Hypocrisy of Democracy

00:54: The Chrisley Reality Show Scandal

02:08: Tax Evasion and Its Consequences

03:14: The Unfairness of the Financial System

06:16: Life's Unfair Realities

12:53: Conclusion and Final Thoughts

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
BEP Narrator (00:02):
A Black Executive Perspective.
Now presents need to know withthe award-winning hyphenated Dr.
Nsenga Burton.
Dr.
Burton, what do we need to know?
Dr. Nsenga Burtonn:
Good afternoon and welcometo Need To Know with Dr.
Nsenga Burton.
I am she.
I hope that you are havinga wonderful day today.
I want to talk to you about the hypocrisyof this democracy You may have been.

(00:27):
Um.
Minding your business and drinkingyour water as people like to say.
Um, uh, yo.
That girl, Erica, shesays that on Instagram.
Let me give her her credit.
Um, but if you have not been doingthat and perhaps you're living under
a rock, perhaps you just had so muchgoing on that you're like, I can't take
another second of watching the news.
'cause it's just horrible every time.

(00:49):
Something you may have missed,um, is, uh, 40 sevens pardon?
Of the Chrisley Reality Show stars.
Um, and, uh.
Uh, Todd and I'm, I'm blanking on the,um, the, the mother's name, but the
Chrisley family, uh, they went to jail.
Um, they were found guilty in Atlantaand they did everything to evade arrest.

(01:10):
They even moved to Nashville so they couldfinish filming their film, uh, filming
their show, uh, while they, uh, were ontrial before they were on trial and during
the, uh, and when they were on trial.
But they, uh, basicallydefrauded, um, banks.
Area banks, they basically will go aroundand falsify documentation and get loans,

(01:31):
um, and to the tune of $36 million.
So this is not like a little sum of money.
It's not $3,000, whichthey lock people up for.
You know, they put peoplein jail in Atlanta.
I live in Atlanta, by the way.
Um, they put people in jail inAtlanta for writing bad checks.
They still do that in 2025.
Um, you know, $3 check,you might go to jail.
Um, you know, something happens betweenyou closing the house and you moving into

(01:54):
the house and for whatever reason, bankaccount doesn't have any money in it.
Whatever.
I, I've heard all kinds ofthings from people I've known.
Um, you know, these things.
So when you hear $36 million,that's not a small sum of money.
It's a huge sum of money.
And then in addition to that, theydefrauded the I-R-S-I-E did not pay
taxes, um, of half a million dollars.

(02:15):
So part of being a citizen of the UnitedStates, um, and why I don't complain about
paying taxes, even though I do think theyare high, especially my property taxes.
If anybody's listening, um, isbecause that's a requirement of
citizenship, you have to pay taxes.
So, um, sometimes you, you know, youhave, you know, fines if you don't pay, if

(02:37):
you pay late, all the things can happen.
You might have an accountant, which wasmy situation, who I thought was filing
taxes and did not one year, 'cause he was.
Having a moment or something.
Um, and then you get that, that letterin the mail, like, Hey, we noticed you
pay your taxes every year, but we don'thave this, uh, is there a problem?
You know, things of that nature.
So taxes are important.
Um, accountant's gone by the way,but I'm still here, so I still pay

(03:00):
taxes and I will pay them untilI go into the ground, I'm sure.
Uh, but the point is, um, when youdefraud people of half a million
dollars in taxes, the government, whatthat does is it falls on other people.
Uh, and it falls on people whoactually do pay their taxes.
Um, it is very hard to get abank loan, um, if you are not
a part of the establishment.

(03:20):
I'll say that.
Um, it is very hard to have a bankruptcyand then to have to get bank loans,
which is why everybody is perplexed.
Why 47?
Who's had, uh, I think sevenbankruptcies at this point and
bankrupted a casino even, which I don'teven know how you do that, but, um.
Can continue to get these loans andget this money and all this stuff.
Um, you know, over all these years,we know all the intersectionality.

(03:43):
We know, um, how you know, uh, who youare matters more than, and then, um,
what you do and have done in order,uh, to get loans, um, from banks.
It's just very hard to do in general,um, especially if you do not have
collateral or a ton of money to put up.
And so, uh, what the Leys did,because you know, they're obviously.

(04:04):
Faking the funk.
Um, and they are, you know, theycall themselves devout Christians.
Um, you know, so that's the other thingthat is interesting about this hypocrisy
and this democracy, um, how these,uh, devout Christians are engaging in
unrest in, in non Christ-like behavior.
Um.
And, you know, damning you to hell,uh, while they're busy, uh, stealing,

(04:26):
which is, you know, one of the 10commandments you're not supposed to steal.
But that's just basic stuff.
Uh, the point is, is thatthey have been pardoned.
He also pardoned a, uh, sheriff inmy, um, home state Virginia, uh,
who had taken $75,000 in bribes.
Um, to either look the other way, to getrid of evidence, to do things like that.

(04:46):
So we think about our criminal justicesystem and we think about who's in our
employee, and we think about all ofthe folks that go to jail, um, over
little things, frivolous things, um,and then people who are over prosecuted.
So, 47 is saying that he thinks thatthese people were over prosecuted.
Well, we know that 47 has an ax to grindwith, uh, Georgia anyway, because he had

(05:08):
the greatest chance of going to jail.
Um, had they not con made up, um, youknow, this case against Fannie Willis,
uh, he would probably, uh, and, uh, bein jail based on the evidence that they
had, which is also a recording of himasking for, uh, the Secretary of State
at the time to, um, find, uh, some votesfor him so that he could win Georgia.

(05:31):
All right, so there's a recording of that.
Um, so he has an ax to grindagainst Atlanta anyway.
Um, so of course he would pardonthese two reality stars who have
thumbed their noses at, um, not onlythe justice system, but also just
all the systems that are in place.
You know, whether it is lying tonumerous banks, falsifying documentation

(05:52):
in order to get loans, allegedly.
Um.
And or, or not paying their taxes tothe tune of half a million dollars.
Uh, and this is all while being ontelevision, all while, you know,
purchasing multimillion dollarhomes, doing all of these things.
So it's all very well documented.
You don't actually have to, um,have been seeing it, uh, or living

(06:14):
it, I, I would say, to see it.
Um, so what I think you need toknow today is that life is not fair.
And if you have the expectation.
Of fairness.
Um, I would say it's also a privilege.
The idea that you can even think that lifeis fair, like you can be in business for.

(06:34):
You know, a decade for yourselfand you cannot get a, a bank
loan loan to save your life.
You cannot procure a bank loan.
You've never had a bankruptcy.
You pay all your bills on time.
You have money in the bank.
You have a steady stream of customers.
You can show all of this data 'causeyou have to collect this data to do the
application of, um, you know, all of youron time payments, all of the income that

(06:57):
you've had, which you pay out all of thethings and you need this money to scale.
This is work I used to do.
Almost every single time it was a no
yet.
And still you have people whodefraud, defraud other people.
They defraud banks.

(07:18):
They defraud the IRS governmententities, and I promise you those
crystals are gonna come out.
Land on their feet.
I promise you somebody's gonna begiving them $10 million to do whatever
the hell they wanna do with it.
Um, despite their colorful,their colorful past.
You know, this is what I thinkwill happen because this is how

(07:41):
it works in the United States.
Right.
Those who can buy theirway out of things, right?
Um, you know, the people who arealigned with people who are used
to buying their way out of things.
Um, when you have money and you come formoney, you have more resources people
are willing to take a chance for on you.
You have co-signers, right?

(08:02):
You have people who can say, okay, ifTony doesn't pay this loan back, I can pay
it and you have a great payment history,so then they'll let you go with it.
Um.
So I need you to know that
not only is life not fair to many,

(08:24):
it is for sale.
To many as well.
Um, and so unfortunately for thebulk of us, and that's the majority
of us, I mean even the white folkswho don't have money, which we don't
ever talk about in this country.
And then the one person who stood the opstood the chance to, who actually wrote a
book about it and had a great opportunityto educate and help bring those folks into

(08:45):
the fore, has now aligned himself witha, uh, megalomaniac billionaire Trump.
And I don't think he's a billionaire,but you know, um, as vice president.
Right, but even PE white people who don'thave money, and they are the majority
in this country of the impoverished, um,based on numbers alone, this is raw data.
This is not per, per, per, uh, this isnot proportion, this is raw numbers.

(09:10):
Um, you have the opportunity.
Um, to help them get out of povertylike the rest of us, um, to help those
who have their own businesses, um, toget out of poverty like the rest of us.
Um, you defund the SBA, you defundthis agency, you defund that agency
and then you turn around and freepeople who are criminals and have

(09:33):
defrauded these institutions that werely on in order to build businesses
that do in fact help the economy.
All right, so your president keeps tellingyou he's a word in economy and economy.
Economy.
Oh, the tariffs aregonna hurt a little bit.
If you've been to the grocery store,you see what the tariffs are doing.
You've been to the grocery store, yousee how much more your groceries are.

(09:54):
I'm gonna, I'm talkingabout $3 differences now.
$3 times 10, that's $30.
That's an extra bill, right?
Um, but what I need you to know is that.
While people are holding your feetto the fire and making sure that you
do everything correct and having noempathy for you and giving you little
grace for like small, small things.

(10:16):
You know, I think about peoplewho steal stuff outta the grocery
store 'cause they are hungry.
They're not selling, stealing groceriesand selling them somewhere else.
Stealing groceries and eatingthem 'cause they are starving.
Um, and then you letting somebodyout who's stealing money to
the two $36 million from banks.
Right.
But you know, if somebody went inand robbed that bank of $3,600,
they'd be in jail for 25 years.

(10:39):
Right?
But you get to go and do thiswhite collar crime and you get
to go and serve a little time.
'cause they only got sentenced in 2022.
Um, and now you're coming out.
And then they have the audacity topretend that they were persecuted.
We were this overzealous prosecution.
How can it be overzealous?
It was $36 million proven.

(11:01):
$36 million.
It's all numbers, it's data.
It's traceable.
You did it half amillion dollars in taxes.
It's traceable.
You all know I got a bill the otherday for like a dollar something.
There was like a dollar something.
The difference between when I paidthe bill and when they did the taxes,

(11:21):
uh, the, the interest and what I owed.
They can follow that stuff to the t.
You better pay that dollar37 'cause trust and believe
something else is coming after it.
All right, so I need youto know life isn't fair.
There are separate rules fordifferent people in society.
Those who have money and arealigned with people who have money.

(11:44):
And I will also say are,uh, morally bankrupt.
Even though they call themselvesdevout Christians, uh, seem to win
a lot in society and seem to getthe most help and grace and empathy.
Um, but it is disgusting to see thatpeople who are defacto criminals, um,
are acting like their case is similarto someone who is in jail for 30

(12:08):
years, over a half an ounce of weed.
You're pretending that you're overprosecuted when you in fact defrauded.
I.
Banks and the IRS that is disgusting.
It is not the same thing.
You were not over prosecuted.
You are getting hooked up by 47 who'sbeen prosecuted but never served any

(12:28):
time and will not serve any time.
And we all know that if anyof us did any of those things,
we would be under the jail,
under the jail, not in it, not behindit, not next to it under the jail.
So you're just seeing societyplay out in real life, right?
Those who have helped, thosewho have those who have not

(12:51):
gotta get it themselves.
All right, so thank youfor tuning in today.
Make sure you tune in next weekso you can hear from me again.
Definitely make sure you check out ABlack Executive Perspective podcast,
the awarding podcast award-winningpodcast by Tony and Chris.
Um, 'cause they always havewonderful things to say.
They have great, uh, guests and wonderfultopics and make sure that you understand

(13:15):
that there is a double standard.
The price that you will haveto pay for something much less
than what these folks have done.
Um, it will be much greater.
So don't do it.
Have a wonderful day.
Bye.
A Black Executive Perspective.
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