Oct. 31 (UPI) — Kenneth Chesebro, a lawyer who struck a plea deal with prosecutors in the 2020 election interference case against former President Donald Trump, has been suspended from practicing law in New York, officials announced Thursday.
The court ruled that Chesebro’s felony conviction in his criminal indictment in Fulton County, Ga., over his efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss there “categorically meets the definition of a serious crime in this state” and warranted the decision to bar him from practicing law in New York.
Chesebro helped come up with a strategy to create false pro-Trump slates of electors in Georgia and other states he lost to Joe Biden, the indictment alleged.
Chesebro’s lawyer said it was not correct to characterize his client as the architect of the scheme to overrun democracy.
Chesebro, along with Trump and 17 other co-defendants, was indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 for his efforts to overturn Trump’s defeat in Georgia to Biden.
Chesebro was indicted on seven counts, and made a plea deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty in October last year to one count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents and agreed to testify in the case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty.
The New York court ruling on Thursday said Chesebro’s suspension was “effective immediately and until further order” of the court.
“Ken Chesebro having his law license suspended should serve as a stark warning of what will happen if lawyers violate their oaths as officers of the court to knowingly lie to subvert democracy,” said Michael Teter, executive director of the legal watchdog group The 65 Project.
