In October 2021, a federal grand jury indicted Kelsey and Smith, who owns the The Standard club in Nashville, on several counts each. The indictment alleged that Kelsey, Smith and others violated campaign finance laws by illegally concealing the transfer of $91,000 from Kelsey’s state Senate campaign committee and $25,000 from a nonprofit that advocated legal justice issues — to a national political organization, the American Conservative Union, to fund advertisements urging support of Kelsey’s congressional campaign.

Former Tennessee state senator gets 21-month prison sentence for campaign finance cash scheme