- Net worth
- Unknown
- Crimes
- campaign finance, conspiracy
- Convicted of
- Conspiracy to defraud the FEC; aiding and abetting acceptance of excessive campaign contributions
- Original sentence
- 21 months' imprisonment; 3 years supervised release (August 11, 2023)
- Time served
- ~18 months before pardon
Background
Brian Kelsey was a Tennessee state senator (Germantown) and a practicing attorney. He ran for the U.S. House in the August 2016 primary and pleaded guilty in November 2022 to federal campaign finance crimes.
The Case
Kelsey and a co-conspirator orchestrated the concealed movement of $91,000—$66,000 from Kelsey’s state Senate campaign committee and $25,000 from a nonprofit—to a national political organization to fund ads supporting his 2016 congressional campaign. They also caused the organization to make $80,000 in illegal coordinated expenditures to Kelsey’s federal campaign by secretly coordinating on advertisements. Kelsey pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and aiding and abetting the acceptance of excessive contributions. The scheme hid from voters how campaign money was raised and spent and undermined the integrity of federal election law. He was sentenced in August 2023 to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Prosecutors described his conduct as calculated, complex, and multifaceted.
The Pardon
On March 11, 2025, President Trump granted Kelsey a full pardon.
Sources
- DOJ Pardon Warrant
- DOJ Clemency Grants
- State Senator Brian Kelsey pleads guilty to campaign finance charges (DOJ USAO-MDTN, Nov 2022)
- Former Tennessee State Senator and co-conspirator sentenced for campaign finance scheme (DOJ, Aug 2023)
- Former Tenn. state senator sentenced to 21 months (Washington Post, Aug 2023)
- Former Tennessee state senator gets 21-month prison sentence (AP, Aug 2023)