Brian Kelsey and Jeremy Durham were once close friends. But the bond between the two former state lawmakers appears to have broken when federal agents began inquiring about alleged campaign finance improprieties surrounding Kelsey’s bid for Congress in 2016.

Durham, who was ousted from the state House in September 2016 over allegations of serial sexual misconduct, has avoided charges in the case by cooperating with federal investigators. Kelsey, who faces a Friday sentencing hearing after pleading guilty to two felony counts, wants to avoid any time behind bars. In support of his effort to persuade U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw to limit his punishment to probation, Kelsey’s legal team has been unpacking on Durham.

Kelsey’s latest filing argues he was far from the mastermind the government describes him as in the plot to shift money from his state account through three other Tennessee-based PACs to the American Conservative Union, which then spent $80,000 on radio and digital ads on his campaign’s behalf. (Kelsey made similar claims in a filing last week.)

Kelsey cut a $106,000 check to restaurateur Josh Smith’s The Standard Club PAC at a dinner in July 2016 in which Durham was also in attendance. On advice of counsel, Kelsey said, he stressed to Smith there were “no strings” attached to the donation and to “spend it however you want.” Smith, who was a codefendant before pleading guilty in the case, Durham, and Durham’s wife corroborated the statement to federal investigators.

But with such lack of direction from Kelsey, Durham (who testified to the grand jury Kelsey at one point told him “not to contact him”) said the ensuing transactions became “disorganized,” a “cluster,” and “mayhem.” Durham and fellow unindicted co-conspirator Andy Miller allegedly decided to go “rogue” by using some of the money originally donated to Smith to pay for attack ads.

“Initially, I did not tell Kelsey about my alternative plan to use the money for the attack ads,” the filing quoted Durham as telling the grand jury. Kelsey was “not happy” when he found about it, Durham said, and instructed him to “scrap the ads and send the money to the ACU.”

The filing notes that three days after the dinner at the Standard Club, the state attorney general released a report detailing allegations of sexual misconduct by Durham with 22 at the Capitol. Durham abruptly suspended his re-election campaign, which only got him more deeply involved in the Kelsey campaign, according to the motion.

All of a sudden, he had time on his hands, and he began calling Mr. Kelsey more frequently. He often sought Mr. Kelsey’s advice on his own dire situation: ‘Kelsey acted as a sounding board for Durham during Durham’s public relations crisis, and would offer Durham advice on how to proceed through the public relations issues.” With time on his hands, Durham also began to assert himself more aggressively into Smith’s funds in the Standard Club PAC.

Durham was not pleased when he found out how much money Kelsey had given Smith.

“I told Brian he was a fucking idiot for placing that much trust in Smith,” Durham recounted to grand jury, leading him to take a more direct hand in matters.

As for the independent expenditures themselves, Kelsey said his campaign team felt radio spots were an “antiquated” method for reaching voters “and internally mocked ACU’s poor choice of medium.” (Kelsey later married the former political director of the ACU.)

Durham never told the grand jury he had directed ad ACU’s campaign, but that “Kelsey allowed it to happen,” according to Kelsey’s filing.

Kelsey concluded that the government wants to make him out to be “some sort of con man.”

“This case is not about corruption,” Kelsey’s motion concludes. “Mr. Kelsey was not bribed, he did not recruit straw donors, and he didn’t swindle anyone.

Federal prosecutors want the judge to sentence Kelsey to 3 1/2 years in prison.