CLEVELAND, Ohio – Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze should be suspended from practicing law for a year for funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars in business to a longtime friend, the state’s disciplinary counsel said Friday.
The counsel recommended that six months of the punishment be dropped if she commits no other misconduct.
“Instead of enhancing the public’s confidence in the integrity, impartiality and independence of the judiciary, (Celebrezze), through manipulation and deceit, tarnished the reputation of the judiciary and undermined the public’s confidence in the institution,” wrote Joseph Caligiuri, the counsel.
Caligiuri’s 29-page report was filed with the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, which examines misconduct of the state’s lawyers and judges. Celebrezze’s attorney, Monica Sansalone, will file a report with later this month. She did not return a message left Friday.
The board will then make a recommendation to the Ohio Supreme Court, which will decide the judge’s fate.
If Celebrezze is suspended, it would come in the middle of her current term, which expires in January 2027. She would be allowed to return to the bench following a suspension. She has been on the bench since 2009.
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