Dennis Bradley was once a rising political star from Bridgeport.

Now he is a convicted felon.

On Friday, a federal jury took less than three hours to convict Bradley on wire fraud charges. Prosecutors said he used "lies and half-truths" to "trick" the state into awarding him $84,000 in campaign funds.

Bradley stood stoically as all six guilty counts were read late Friday afternoon.

"The verdict is what it is and we're going to push forward," he told reporters afterward.

Bradley's attorney, Darnell Crosland, asked the judge to set aside the jury verdict. Judge Victor Bolden said he would take the motion under advisement.

"To say that I'm shocked is an understatement," Crosland told the judge. "It just doesn't rationally make sense."

Bradley's stunning downfall started nearly eight years ago with a party at Dolphin's Cove Restaurant. He announced his 2018 run for state Senate at the event.

Bradley insisted it was a "thank you" party for his law firm, BDK Law Group.

But prosecutors called it a campaign event designed to get around Connecticut's campaign finance laws, which place strict limits on how much candidates can spend of their own money and still qualify for public funding.

"It sounds stupid, but he wanted to have a better party – and he wanted $179,000 from the public," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis.

Bradley sought $179,000 from the Citizens Election Program, but was only awarded $84,000 before state regulators began investigating.

Prosecutors showed evidence that Bradley paid more than $7,000 of his own money – more three times above what is allowed – but reported "$0" on campaign finance reports to the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Prosecutors also accused Bradley and his staffers of altering dates on campaign filings to hide donations collected at Dolphin's Cove.

"They lied on SEEC forms and they lied to SEEC investigators," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Novick told jurors. "The defendant doubles down on those lies."

In his closing statement, Crosland brought out party streamers and a pink disco ball to argue that the party was nothing more than that.

"What they was doing was talking in circles," he said. "It was a law firm party according to everyone who went, but the fact that he was going to announce [his candidacy] doesn't make it a campaign party."

A critical piece of evidence was a 28-minute video of the party that Bradley spent years fighting to keep jurors from seeing. In 2024, a federal appeals court ruled that it could be included.

The video featured Tina Manus, a campaign volunteer, passing out contribution forms. Manus reached a plea deal with prosecutors and testified against Bradley. His treasurer, Jessica Martinez, also pleaded guilty but did not testify.

"Still to this day, Dolphin's Cove was not a campaign event, in my opinion," Martinez told News 12 Connecticut last July. "I had nothing to do with organizing it, but he did."

But Bradley insisted that his staffers acted on their own – without his knowledge.

"Tina Manus unfortunately made a mistake that was unbeknownst to our campaign and our team," Bradley said. "If we would have known that, we would have took the necessary steps to rectify it."

Bradley's text messages suggested otherwise.

A group chat referred to Dolphin's Cove as a "roll out party." A campaign worker asked if the event would be illegal. Bradley replied, "No, It's a BDK Law group party." But he texted another volunteer to bring donation forms.

Bradley disputed that characterization but chose not to take the stand.

"I'm not going to say regret not testifying. I do believe that people have the presumption of innocence, and I do think that juries have a hard time conceptualizing that," Bradley said after the verdict. "My friends and family are here to support me. I know the people of Bridgeport are there to support me and we're going to keep pushing forward."

Bradley could face a long prison sentence. Federal wire fraud can carry up to 20 years behind bars.

Bolden did not set a sentencing day yet. Bradley remains free on bond in the meantime.

Now that he has a felony conviction, Bradley could also lose his license to practice law.