The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday allowed former Fulton County Commission chairman Mitch Skandalakis, who pleaded guilty a decade ago for making false statements to an FBI agent, to become a lawyer again.
Skandalakis was disbarred by the court after his 2003 conviction in a bribery scandal. After being released from prison, Skandalakis ran Creative Media Solutions from 2004 to 2007 and has since worked as director of loss prevention for Waffle House.
“I’m very grateful to the bar and the Supreme Court for giving me the opportunity,” Skandalakis, 55, said.
“Now the hard part begins,” he added. “I still have to take and pass the state bar exam again.”
Skandalakis said he will try to take the bar exam this July or February.
The state Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion, noted that Skandalakis asked to be readmitted as a lawyer in March 2012. A State Bar of Georgia fitness board, after considering the application, decided Skandalakis could be readmitted.
“The record shows that since his conviction Skandalakis has shown remorse and has strived to act with integrity and responsibility through his hard work, his devotion to family and as a volunteer in his community,” the court said. It noted the state parole board restored Skandalakis’s civil and political rights in June 2012.
From 1993 to 1998, Skandalakis rose from a Fulton tax protestor to state legislator to county government chair. His political rise ended with an unsuccessful race for lieutenant governor in 1998.
During a federal corruption investigation that began in April 2000, Skandalakis told an FBI special agent he had not voted on matters involving an Atlanta businessman, who was convicted of bribery in the same investigation, or the man’s company. But federal prosecutors said, and Skandalakis later admitted, he knew his statement to the agent was false. He was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $1,000.
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