WASHINGTON — A Virginia court disbarred attorney Jonathon Moseley last week – prompting a D.C. District judge to order an emergency status hearing for the alleged Oath Keeper represented by Moseley in his Capitol riot case.
The Circuit Court of Prince William County announced Moseley’s disbarment Tuesday evening. According to the disbarment order, the court found Moseley violated six of the Virginia State Bar’s Rules of Professional Conduct, including rules related to the safekeeping of client’s property and/or funds, accounting procedures and obstructing an investigation into his conduct.
The order is the latest escalation of legal troubles for Moseley, who was held in contempt of court in December in the Eastern District of Virginia for refusing to show up in person to a court hearing. U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga ordered him to pay more than $10,000 to an attorney and painting company who had won a judgment against him. Trenga also suspended Moseley’s license to practice law in the district after Moseley filed a frivolous class action lawsuit against Trenga and the other attorney.
That suspension was itself suspended pending an appeal to the 4th Circuit, which was denied. Last week, the Circuit Court of Prince William County raised the suspension to disbarment from practicing law in Virginia.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ordered Moseley and his client Kelly Meggs to appear for a status hearing before him Thursday morning. At issue is Moseley’s ability to continue representing Meggs, an alleged Oath Keepers leader now facing charges of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol riot. The federal court bar in D.C. requires attorneys to be members in good standing either with the D.C. Bar or the “highest court of any state in which you maintain your principal law office.” Moseley is not a member of the D.C. Bar.
Moseley’s disbarment will likely affect more than just Meggs’ case. As of March, he represents another criminal defendant, Cynthia Ballenger, in her Capitol riot case. He is also representing Meggs, the Oath Keepers organization and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in civil cases related to the riot.
Moseley and attorney Brad Geyer, representing Meggs’ co-defendant Kenneth Harrelson (who Moseley also represented for a time) have been behind some of the most unorthodox and “bombastic” – to quote Mehta – filings in the Capitol riot case. In November, Moseley and Geyer asked for a waiver to file a 130-page brief comparing the COVID-19 vaccine to the Holocaust. Mehta denied their request and told them to abide by the court’s 45-page limit for motions. They responded by filing more than 600 pages of exhibits and appendixes of attacks on vaccine manufacturers and debunked claims about the COVID-19 vaccine in particular.
Moseley also filed a number of unusual motions after another of his clients, alleged Pennsylvania Proud Boys leader Zachary Rehl, informed him he wanted to switch to a public defender. Moseley said in a filing he would withdraw from the case only if the court could assure him Rehl hadn’t been “manipulated” and also warned Rehl he could potentially lose access to more than $60,000 in donated funds raised for his legal defense.
Speaking with WUSA9 on Wednesday, Moseley declined to go into details about his disbarment, but did say in regards to his Capitol riot clients, “The case should be about the defendants and not about me.”
Moseley was expected to appeal the disbarment order.
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