Former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s law license was suspended Thursday by the Tennessee Supreme Court, but more discipline could follow.
The court’s Board of Professional Responsibility oversees and disciplines attorneys in the state for unethical behaviors. On Thursday, the court suspended Kelsey from practicing law in Tennessee after he pled guilty to two felonies related to campaign finance laws last month.
Kelsey was indicted on the charges by a grand jury in October 2021. He pled guilty last month to violating campaign finance laws and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as part of a scheme to benefit his failed 2016 campaign for U.S. Congress, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
For each of these charges, Kelsey faces five years in prison. He is scheduled to be to be sentenced in June 2023.
As for his law license, the “matter has been referred to the [Tennessee Supreme Court’s] board to institute formal proceedings to determine the extent of the final discipline to be imposed upon Mr. Kelsey as a result of his plea of guilty to conduct constituting a serious crime …”
