John M. Kelley
Madison Celebrates the Life of a Dear Friend and Trusted Colleague John M. Kelley, Sr.
Madison is sad to announce the passing of our colleague, John M. Kelley, Sr. He passed away after a courageous battle with an unrelenting disease on August 22, 2024. His commitment to our mission at Madison Associates, Inc., and an unwavering support of our efforts made a profound impact on our organization. John dedicated much of his time, expertise, and support to Madison, always working to help those who needed assistance, mentoring and counsel. In addition to his case related services, John enjoyed writing the Madison Newsletter and getting to know new personnel. He kept current on the latest trends and caselaw related to money laundering and asset forfeiture, and was excited to share his knowledge with the Madison community. He believed that by using state-of-the-art technology, combined with the investigative expertise of our people, our organization would advance the mission of our law enforcement clients, and help ensure that ill-gotten gain was not left in the hands of criminals.
Before John's seventeen years at Madison, he served as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He served in a number of field office, including New York City, Jackson, Mississippi, Denver, Colorado, and FBI Headquarters. While assigned to the Jackson office, John was the Case Agent of the reinvestigation of the Medgar Evers Assassination. Mr. Evers was assassinated in Jackson in 1963 while serving as the state leader of the NAACP. John dedicated substantial time to this case, which subsequently resulted in the conviction in 1994 of Byron De La Beckwith for Mr. Ever's murder. At the time of his retirement from the Bureau he was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of a large Midwestern field office. For several years he served as the Unit Chief of the Legal Forfeiture Unit in the Office of the General Counsel, and as such was the Bureau's Forfeiture Counsel. He was known to be a strong leader who volunteered as a counselor for the Bureau's Employee Assistance Program, and was an active member of the Department of Justice's Asset Forfeiture Working Group.
Upon his retirement from the Bureau, John joined Madison as a Senior Counsel and Project Director. In those capacities, John provided to Madison his professional insights, leadership strengths and moral compass to everyone and everything he touched. John was also the Chief of Madison's Remission Unit, providing well documented support for positions our clients could adopt regarding petitions for remission or mitigation filed in connection with forfeitures obtained by those clients. John's contributions to Madison and the FBI are a testament to his compassion and dedication to the spirit of professional law enforcement. All of John's colleagues at Madison will miss him and his counsel, and his legacy will continue to inspire and guide us.
Project Director/Senior Counsel with Madison 2007-2024
John M. Kelley joined Madison Associates, Inc., in April 2007 as a Financial Crimes Investigator and Senior Counsel. He serves as a Project Director for Madison's work with individual United States Attorney's Offices and the Madison Remission Unit, which provides consultative services relating to petitions for remission or mitigation that are frequently filed in connection with civil and criminal forfeiture cases. Mr. Kelley has also serves Madison in connection with its duties as a Federal Receiver.
Mr. Kelley retired from government service after twenty-two (22) years as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Kelley served as FBI Forfeiture Counsel at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. where he was responsible for legal oversight of the FBI's Asset Forfeiture Program. He has also served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge in a regional FBI' Field Office and Chief Division Counsel where he was responsible for Field Office coordination for the Office's Asset Forfeiture, Counterterrorism, and White Collar Crime Investigative Programs.
