Rhode Island's Supreme Court has disbarred former House of Representatives Speaker Gordon Fox, who pleaded guilty last month to federal corruption charges.
In a one-page order, the court said Fox, 53, "freely and voluntarily consents to disbarment freely and voluntarily consents to disbarment and that he is fully aware of the implications of submitting his consent."
Fox was House majority leader from 2002 to February 2010, when he became the nation's first openly gay house speaker. He resigned as speaker and did not seek re-election last year after law-enforcement raids on his State House office and his Providence East Side home.
He pleaded guilty in March to federal charges of bribery, wire fraud and failure to file tax returns from 2008 to 2012. The government is recommending a three-year sentence. U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi, who must accept the agreement, has scheduled a June 11 hearing.
As speaker in 2010, Fox helped shepherd a loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., backed by the state's moral obligation, to former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video-game company, 38 Studios. Two years later the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shuttered, leaving taxpayers with the bill.
