NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Brian Kelsey, a state senator from Shelby County, is under legal scrutiny after an indictment by a federal grand jury.
The indictment, returned this past Friday, accuses Sen. Kelsey, a Nashville club owner, and others of illegally moving tens of thousands of dollars from his state senate campaign committee to his federal campaign committee during his unsuccessful 2016 run for Congress.
In the 13-page, five-count indictment, prosecutors accused Sen. Kelsey, who represents Germantown and other pockets of Shelby County, and others in a conspiracy to unlawfully and secretly funnel 'soft money' from State Committee 1 to Political Organization 1 to support Kelsey's federal campaign' during his 2016 U.S. House race.
The indictment also contends specifically Sen. Kelsey and other 'conspirators would and did orchestrate the concealed movement of $91,000' ahead of the August 2016 Congressional primary.
Federal prosecutors said that violated the 1971 Federal Election Campaign Act, which 'limited the amount and sources of money that may be contributed to a federal candidate or a federal candidate's authorized committee.'
"I'm the number-one target of the Tennessee Democratic Party," Sen. Kelsey said in response to the indictment Monday afternoon. "These five-year-old, unfounded allegations have been reviewed and re-reviewed. They were wrong then and they are wrong now. I'm totally innocent and I look forward to being cleared at trial."
Gabby Salinas, who narrowly lost to Sen. Kelsey in 2018 and is now chair of the Shelby County Democratic Party, said Monday in a statement: "We are a country of laws and no one is above the law, we must let the process take course. The Kelsey indictment is concerning, we are following the new developments closely and will act as things precipitate."
Mid-South political analyst Susan Adler Thorp said Sen. Kelsey's federal charges don't shine a good light on the area.
"You are innocent until you are proven guilty but this is really a black mark on his reputation," Adler Thorp said.
Sen. Kelsey's federal charges follow a federal conviction just last month of another state senator, Democrat Katrina Robinson of Memphis.
A jury found her guilty on four counts of federal fraud for misusing federal grant money for a health care school she operated.
She's asked for a new trial.
Sen. Kelsey and his co-defendant are scheduled to appear in court November 5th.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Tennessee said if convicted, Sen. Kelsey faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each count.