TN State Senator steps down from committee role after being indicted for campaign finance conspiracy

A federal grand jury in Nashville returned a five-count indictment charging Tennessee State Senator Brian Kelsey, 43, and Nashville social club owner Joshua Smith, 44, with violating multiple campaign finance laws as part of a conspiracy to benefit Kelsey's 2016 campaign for U.S. Congress.

At the start of a special session of the Tennessee Legislature Wednesday, Kelsey maintained his innocence and announced to senators he would be temporarily stepping from from his leadership role as chair of the Senate Education Committee to focus on the legal battle.

According to the indictment, beginning in February 2016 and going through October 2016, Kelsey and Smith conspired with others to violate federal campaign finance laws to secretly and unlawfully funnel money from Kelsey's state campaign to his authorized federal campaign.

The indictment said Kelsey and others also caused a national political organization to make illegal, excessive contributions to Kelsey’s federal campaign committee by secretly coordinating with the organization on advertisements supporting Kelsey’s federal candidacy and to cause false reports of contributions and expenditures to be filed with the Federal Election Commission.

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/politics/brian-kelsey-indicted-in-campaign-finance-conspiracy/51-d853f672-daad-4892-8bd8-e6fcb353d61b