Skelos loses law license

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A New York State appeals court has officially disbarred former State Sen. Dean Skelos, who was found guilty of corruption in December.

Last week, the Second Judicial Department Appellate Division in Brooklyn formally took Skelos off the list of attorneys as a result of his felony conviction.

The order, issued on July 27, retroactively disbars Skelos since the date of his conviction, Dec. 11, 2015. It also forbids him from “practicing law in any form, either as principal or as agent, clerk, or employee of another,” and from appearing as a lawyer before any sort of public authority, giving legal advice or “holding himself out” as a lawyer.

The order also notes that there is no record of Skelos notifying the court that he was convicted.

Skelos and his son, Adam, were found guilty of corruption schemes that leveraged the elder Skelos’s influence as majority leader of the State Senate to procure jobs and monetary payments for his son. On May 12, the elder Skelos was sentenced to five years in prison and a $500,000 fine, while his son was sentenced to six and a half years. The two were also ordered to repay the $334,120 their scheme earned. They have been free since their sentencing, and no date has been set for them to report to prison, with appeals still pending.

A Supreme Court case, McDonnell v. United States, decided in June, provided the Skeloses with the grounds for appeal. The court unanimously overturned the corruption conviction of former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, ruling that the definition of “official act” under corruption laws was too vague. The Skeloses’ attorneys claim their convictions cannot be upheld because what they did no longer constitutes corruption in light of the McDonnell case.