TALLAHASSEE — Longtime Tallahassee attorney and former city commissioner Scott Charles Maddox has been voluntarily and permanently disbarred following a Nov. 27 Florida Supreme Court order and his guilty plea on federal fraud charges, according to a recent announcement by The Florida Bar.
"Maddox was indicted on 44 criminal counts including wire fraud, mail fraud and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government," the state bar said in its Dec. 27 announcement of the discipline and the Supreme Court's order. "He pleaded guilty and was adjudicated guilty to the three charges cited."
In its single-page order, the Supreme Court approved the uncontested referee's report filed in the matter and Maddox's disbarment on consent before disbarring Maddox and ordered him to pay $1,434.
Maddox was already suspended, which meant his disbarment was effective immediately.
Florida court orders are not final until time to file a rehearing motion expires. Filing such a motion does not alter the effective date of Maddox's permanent disbarment.
In August of last year, Maddox and Janice Paige Carter-Smith, Tallahassee Downtown Improvement Authority executive director, pled guilty to wire fraud and mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit tax fraud. The other 41 charges that had been pending against the pair were dropped as part of a plea deal reached with prosecutors.
Also in August, Maddox was indefinitely suspended following a Florida Supreme Court order.
Maddox and Carter-Smith had been scheduled to be sentenced in November but their sentencing was delayed in October following a U.S. Department of Justice announcement of a second superseding indictment in the case against Tallahassee-area businessman John "J.T." Burnette, who also featured in the first indictment.
Maddox and Carter-Smith are expected to be sentenced after Burnette's trial later this year.
Maddox, a former Tallahassee mayor and chair of the Florida Democratic Party, was admitted to the bar in Florida on Oct. 5, 1995, according to his profile at the state bar website.
Florida Supreme Court case number SC19-1373