Steve McBee Sr. Breaks Down How He Saved His Son With Prison Sentence

Steve McBee Sr. opened up about his 24-month prison sentence in an emotional interview with fellow reality star Todd Chrisley.

McBee, 52, star sat down with Chrisley, 56, on the Wednesday, December 3, episode of the latter’s “Chrisley Confessions” podcast shortly before he checked into a South Dakota prison on December 1. McBee was sentenced to two years behind bars in October 2025 after pleading guilty in a multi-million dollar crop insurance fraud case.

The Chrisley Knows Best alum frequently spoke of his kinship with the McBee Dynasty star, since he and his wife, Julie Chrisley, were pardoned by President Donald Trump in May 2025 after being convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax fraud in 2022.

“I’m going on my sabbatical. That’s what I tell everybody,” McBee joked to Todd.

Keep scrolling for some of the most shocking moments from McBee’s appearance on “Chrisley Confessions”:

What Did Steve McBee Sr. Do?

The U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Western District of Missouri announced in November 2024 that Steve McBee Sr. agreed to plead guilty for his part in a “multi-million dollar fraud scheme involving federal crop insurance benefits he was not entitled to receive.”

Steve Sr. signed a plea deal wherein he admitted to causing losses to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by engaging in fraudulent activity between 2018 and 2020. He acknowledged filing false insurance reports that “underreported his total” corn and soybean crop yields in those three years.

“As a result of these false reports, McBee received $2,605,943 in federal crop insurance benefits to which he was not entitled, as well as $552,980 in federal crop insurance premium subsidies to which he was not entitled, for a total of $3,158,923,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office read.

The statement went on, “McBee admitted that his farming operation sold more than 1.2 million bushels of corn and nearly 416,000 bushels of soybeans to another party in 2018. However, McBee’s crop insurance records reported that his farming operations produced only 340,476 bushels of corn and 190,171 bushels of soybeans. In addition to the specific felony charge to which he pleaded guilty today, McBee admitted he committed additional fraud in 2019 and 2020.”

In taking the plea deal, Steve Sr. waived the right to a grand jury trial, which spared him as much as 30 years behind bars, if convicted. Steve Sr. was sentenced to 24 months in prison in October 2025, plus two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $4,022,124 in restitution and forfeit $3,158,923 to the U.S. government.

Steve Sr. began serving his prison sentence in Yankton, South Dakota, on December 1.

Steve McBee Sr. Says He Took a Plea Deal to Save His Son Steven Jr. and His Employees

Steve McBee Sr. clarified to Todd Chrisley that the fraud investigation started before McBee Dynasty had even finished production on season 1.

He recalled not worrying much when he found out an “investigative audit” of his business practices would be conducted by the government officials.

“We’ll provide all the information, they’ll see we didn’t do anything. It’ll go away,” he remembered thinking.

Steve Sr. eventually received a call from his lawyer in November 2024 to set up an urgent meeting. During that conversation, Steve Sr. learned that the U.S. Attorney’s Office had sent a “best and final offer” to avoid prosecution for insurance fraud.

“[They said], ‘You have 48 hours, two days, [to decide],” he said.

Steve Sr. claimed he was told that unless he pleaded guilty to “one count of giving a fraudulent statement to crop insurance,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office would pursue “27 federal indictments,” including charges against his son Steven and his other businesses.

The McBee Dynasty star ultimately agreed to the plea deal in order to prevent his son Steven McBee Jr. and their employees from facing any legal trouble.

Steve McBee Sr. Explains How He Made False Statement to Investigators

Steve McBee Sr. blamed the discrepancies in reporting his 2018-2020 crop yields on a “clerical issue” on “one half-field” on his property.

“I call it a ‘half-mistake.’ It was a ‘half-mistake,’” he told Chrisley. “In 2020, they found one field. We were there May 20th and we planted a little bit over half of that field. And we finished that field, like, June 18th. Well, the cutoff for reporting was like June 10th or 11th. Every county varies.”

He went on, “They literally said our entire insurance claim was null and void for all those years.”

Steve Sr. alleged that he didn’t personally plant the fields in question — adding that he has “75 employees” who do those jobs.

“This was just a planting date — if you think about how minor that is,” Steve Sr. argued, claiming, “It’s so minor of a clerical issue, that I didn’t make! My son didn’t make it … for them to say, ‘Your entire claim is null and void,’ it’s mind-numbing.”

Steve McBee Sr. Claims He Was Targeted Because of His Family’s Fame

Steve McBee Sr. confirmed that the investigation into his farming business started even before McBee Dynasty finished airing. His son Steven McBee Jr. visited the family farm on camera when he was filming Fox’s 2022 reality show Joe Millionaire: For Richer or Poorer — which may have tipped off interest from investigators.

“Our show was already filmed. We were on episode 10, it had not aired yet, and they were just starting the investigation,” Steve Sr. alleged to Todd Chrisley on his podcast. “When that investigator started, he had told my son [Steven], ‘I watched all of your shows. I watched all of your Instagrams.’ It was like he was stalked [Steven].”

Steve Sr. claimed that his attorneys had “never seen any [investigator] want somebody so bad.”

“It was a trophy prosecution at the highest level,” Steve Sr. insisted.

Steve Sr. admitted to joking with son Steven about whether the Joe Millionaire star had “dated [the investigator’s] girlfriend at some time.”

“It was a crazy deal,” he added.

Steve McBee Sr. Explains Why He Took a Plea Deal

Todd Chrisley suggested it was a “shock and awe” tactic when the media reported that Steve McBee Sr. could get 30 years in prison, if convicted. (Steve Sr. was ultimately sentenced to 24 months, though the U.S. Attorney’s Office did confirm that he could have faced “a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole.”)

“[The press] had it all pre-printed. I didn’t even walk out of the building and the news articles were everywhere,” Steve Sr. said.

Steve Sr. recalled having a frank discussion with his lawyer about their chances of beating the rap, seeing as the U.S. Attorney’s Office was allegedly threatening to file “27 federal indictments” unless a plea deal was signed. He worried that his banking partners might even back out of funding agreements for his businesses if he faced those indictments.

“[I decided] OK, get my son off of this. Get all my other people off of it. Get all the other companies [off],” he recalled. “At the end of the day, the buck stops with me. I take that accountability and responsibility.”

At the end of a six-hour meeting with his lawyer, Steve Sr. agreed to “plea out to giving one count of a fraudulent statement — not that we committed fraud.”

“I said, ‘No-one else is owning this but me,’” Steve Sr. said. “It’s just so crazy it was based on a clerical issue.”