Kenneth Chesebro, who served as a campaign legal adviser for former President Donald Trump, will have his law license suspended in New York and could face disbarment, according to a state appeals court ruling.
The action, finalized Thursday, by a New York appeals court, comes in connection to the guilty plea he entered as a co-defendant in October 2023 in the Fulton County, Georgia, election interference case.
He, Trump, and more than a dozen co-defendants had been charged with attempting to delay the transfer of power after the 2020 election.
Chesebro agreed as jury selection was beginning in the case, to plead guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents.
The appeals court said that his guilty plea meets the requirement under New York law that when an attorney is convicted of a felony in the state or a crime out of state that would also be considered a crime in New York, that the attorney "ceases to be competent to practice law."
And even if an attorney is found guilty of a felony outside of New York that is not a felony in the state, an appellate division panel can still suspend that person if the charges involve misrepresentation or fraud, until a final disciplinary order is determined.
Chesebro argued in his appeals case, through the Attorney Grievance Committee, that the Georgia court's certification states that "further proceedings are deferred" and that no judgment of guilt should be imposed when he entered his guilty plea.
Further, he argued that the Georgia agreement required that if he completes his probation requirements under Georgia's First Offender Law, he is to "be completely exonerated of guilt of said offense."
This means Georgia's judgment against him wasn't final and suspension proceedings must wait until the final resolution of the case, his argument said.
But the appeals court said that its review of the record "reveals that a judgment of conviction" was rendered by the Georgia courts.
"Specifically, the certified records from the Superior Court of Fulton County reveal that it entered a judgment against respondent, directing him to complete a five-year term of probation with various conditions, including cooperating in providing testimony against his codefendants," said the appeal court's ruling. "In our view, it is of no moment that respondent may ultimately be "exonerated" under Georgia law, as it equally as plausible that he may violate the terms of his probation and be subjected to additional criminal penalties as a result."
Chesebro, meanwhile, has also been indicted in Wisconsin, where he was identified as a co-conspirator in other criminal cases involving the 2020 presidential election.
Another of Chesebro's alleged co-conspirators, former New York City Mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, was disbarred in New York in July 2024.
The Attorney Grievance Committee had also argued that the felony Chesebro admitted to in Georgia is on par with charges of filing a false instrument in New York, where that charge is not a felony, reports The Times Union in Albany.
The appeals court rejected that argument as well, saying that Chesebro had pleaded guilty to the conspiracy, not the filing of a false instrument and that his plea amounted to committing what would be considered misinformation or fraud in New York.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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