On Wednesday, June 22, former Democratic candidate in the 2018 Florida Governor’s race Andrew Gillum gave up to federal authorities in Tallahassee after he and an associate were charged with conspiracy and 19 counts of fraud. Mr. Gillum was also charged with giving the FBI false statements.
The 42-year-old former mayor pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Wednesday afternoon. Along with his mentor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Mr. Gillum faces up to twenty years in prison. Additionally, he faces up to ten years in prison for lying to investigators. Ms. Lettman-Hicks, who is a Democrat running for a state House seat representing Tallahassee, disguised fraudulent payments to Mr. Gillum using her communications company “P&P Communications.”
According to the New York Times, Mr. Gillum said, “Make no mistake that this case is not legal, it is political. There’s been a target on my back ever since I was the mayor of Tallahassee. They found nothing then, and I have full confidence that my legal team will prove my innocence now.”
In 2015, a federal investigation into Tallahassee City Hall involving undercover FBI agents showed that Mr. Gillum socialized with the undercover agents, taking a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty and seeing the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” This adversely affected Gillum’s 2018 campaign, as Mr. Gillum narrowly lost by less than half a percentage point. Mr. (now Governor) DeSantis, a Republican, said at that time that Mr. Gillum could not be trusted to run the state.
One of the undercover agents – who was posing as a corrupt developer with a company called “Southern Pines” – offered to supply money to Mr. Gillum covertly as long as “Southern Pines” got a favorable consideration at City Hall. Later, in June 2017, Mr. Gillum lied to the FBI about cutting contact with “Southern Pines.” Although Mr. Gillum wasn’t charged, he still had to pay a $5000 state ethics fine for improperly accepting gifts.
In 2016, when Mr. Gillum was mayor, he skimmed money from various individual donors and nonprofit groups, deceitfully feigning to perform voter outreach or to fight for local government rights, all while keeping the cash. He continued with this behavior even after his campaign for governor ended in 2018.
In 2017, Mr. Gillum made a particularly stressful decision to resign from his job at the liberal group People for the American Way. After this, he couldn’t handle the loss of his $122,500 annual salary, so he and Ms. Lettman-Hicks arranged for more money to flow into Gillum’s coffers through Ms. Lettman-Hicks’ communications company.
As a result of the FBI investigations and the revelations about Gillum’s associations with lobbyists, his campaign against DeSantis in 2018 was soon doomed. Mr. Gillum, who was once a dynamic speaker and the Democratic Party’s first black nominee for governor in Florida, was now a political celebrity and a sought-after speaker because of the campaign. After his loss, he converted his political committee into a voter registration effort, promising to sign up and “re-engage” one million voters to help Democrats turn Florida blue.
In March 2020, the police found Mr. Gillum in a Miami Beach hotel room with a man who was suffering a possible drug overdose. Shortly after, Mr. Gillum entered rehab to pursue treatment for alcoholism.
Unfortunately, by the end of the year Mr. Gillum was paying more money for legal work to top attorney Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who softened the federal mandate asking Mr. Gillum for numerous records in 2019.
“In my experience, this is the kind of inquiry campaigns often receive once an election is over,” Elias told The Tallahassee Democrat, according to NBC News. “I am confident that Forward Florida and Mayor Gillum have complied with the law and the facts will bear that out.”
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/us/andrew-gillum-conspiracy-wire-fraud.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/andrew-gillum-desantis-2018-opponent-faces-indictment-rcna34676
The 42-year-old former mayor pleaded not guilty in a court appearance on Wednesday afternoon. Along with his mentor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, Mr. Gillum faces up to twenty years in prison. Additionally, he faces up to ten years in prison for lying to investigators. Ms. Lettman-Hicks, who is a Democrat running for a state House seat representing Tallahassee, disguised fraudulent payments to Mr. Gillum using her communications company “P&P Communications.”
According to the New York Times, Mr. Gillum said, “Make no mistake that this case is not legal, it is political. There’s been a target on my back ever since I was the mayor of Tallahassee. They found nothing then, and I have full confidence that my legal team will prove my innocence now.”
In 2015, a federal investigation into Tallahassee City Hall involving undercover FBI agents showed that Mr. Gillum socialized with the undercover agents, taking a boat ride to the Statue of Liberty and seeing the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” This adversely affected Gillum’s 2018 campaign, as Mr. Gillum narrowly lost by less than half a percentage point. Mr. (now Governor) DeSantis, a Republican, said at that time that Mr. Gillum could not be trusted to run the state.
One of the undercover agents – who was posing as a corrupt developer with a company called “Southern Pines” – offered to supply money to Mr. Gillum covertly as long as “Southern Pines” got a favorable consideration at City Hall. Later, in June 2017, Mr. Gillum lied to the FBI about cutting contact with “Southern Pines.” Although Mr. Gillum wasn’t charged, he still had to pay a $5000 state ethics fine for improperly accepting gifts.
In 2016, when Mr. Gillum was mayor, he skimmed money from various individual donors and nonprofit groups, deceitfully feigning to perform voter outreach or to fight for local government rights, all while keeping the cash. He continued with this behavior even after his campaign for governor ended in 2018.
In 2017, Mr. Gillum made a particularly stressful decision to resign from his job at the liberal group People for the American Way. After this, he couldn’t handle the loss of his $122,500 annual salary, so he and Ms. Lettman-Hicks arranged for more money to flow into Gillum’s coffers through Ms. Lettman-Hicks’ communications company.
As a result of the FBI investigations and the revelations about Gillum’s associations with lobbyists, his campaign against DeSantis in 2018 was soon doomed. Mr. Gillum, who was once a dynamic speaker and the Democratic Party’s first black nominee for governor in Florida, was now a political celebrity and a sought-after speaker because of the campaign. After his loss, he converted his political committee into a voter registration effort, promising to sign up and “re-engage” one million voters to help Democrats turn Florida blue.
In March 2020, the police found Mr. Gillum in a Miami Beach hotel room with a man who was suffering a possible drug overdose. Shortly after, Mr. Gillum entered rehab to pursue treatment for alcoholism.
Unfortunately, by the end of the year Mr. Gillum was paying more money for legal work to top attorney Marc Elias, a Democratic lawyer who softened the federal mandate asking Mr. Gillum for numerous records in 2019.
“In my experience, this is the kind of inquiry campaigns often receive once an election is over,” Elias told The Tallahassee Democrat, according to NBC News. “I am confident that Forward Florida and Mayor Gillum have complied with the law and the facts will bear that out.”
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/us/andrew-gillum-conspiracy-wire-fraud.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/andrew-gillum-desantis-2018-opponent-faces-indictment-rcna34676
