ATLANTA (AP) – A suspended Georgia Court of Appeals judge has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine to settle ethics charges that he spent campaign funds for personal use.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission voted Thursday to approve a consent decree with Judge Christian Coomer.
Commission staff said it was the largest fine ever against a Georgia judge in an ethics case.
A 2020 ethics complaint accused Coomer, a former state House member, of transferring money from his old legislative campaign account to financially prop up his former law firm between 2015 and 2019. Ethics officials called the transfers “short-term loans.”
The complaint said Coomer used campaign money to pay for trips to Hawaii and Israel.