BK
Brian Kelsey
pardonFinancial / FraudFurther reading
Convicted of
Brian Kelsey was a Republican Tennessee State Senator representing Germantown. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and aiding and abetting the acceptance of excessive contributions in connection with his 2016 campaign for Congress. Kelsey admitted to secretly funneling $91,000 in illegal contributions to his authorized federal campaign committee: $66,000 transferred from his own Tennessee State Senate campaign committee (a violation of federal law prohibiting the transfer of state campaign funds to federal campaigns), and $25,000 from a nonprofit legal advocacy organization. The funds were routed through a national political organization to pay for advertisements urging voters to support Kelsey in the August 2016 Republican primary election, concealing the true source of the money from the FEC. After entering his guilty plea, Kelsey unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw it, claiming he had entered it with an "unsure heart and a confused mind."
Original sentence
Pleaded guilty to two federal counts in the Middle District of Tennessee. Sentenced on August 11, 2023 to 21 months in federal prison and three years' supervised release.
Post-pardon activity
2mentions
0new offenses
Subsequent News Mentions(2)
Named in a CREW investigation documenting Trump's clemency grants to at least 20 corrupt politicians, collectively allowing eleven former officials to evade roughly 66 years of prison time across 166 corruption counts.
Named in a CBS News report on Trump's pardons and commutations for convicted fraudsters and white-collar criminals, with Trump claiming many were unfairly targeted for being his supporters.