Closing arguments began Friday in the corruption case of Andrew Gillum, a once-rising star in the Democratic Party who nearly beat Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in 2018 to become Florida’s first black governor.
Gillum, a former Tallahassee mayor, and P&P Communications owner Sharon Lettman-Hicks are charged with illegally soliciting campaign donations and then funneling them into their own accounts.
ANDREW GILLUM FACING FEDERAL CORRUPTION CHARGES
Gillum was also charged with lying to the FBI about a trip he made to New York City. He faces 17 counts of wire fraud and a wire fraud conspiracy count, each carrying a maximum of 20 years behind bars. The single charge of lying to the FBI carries a five-year maximum sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Grogan told jurors that the pair hatched a plan to skim money from grants and donations to his campaign, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
“You’ll see the pattern repeating over and over,” Grogan said. “Once the money comes in, it goes right out to pay his salary.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has spent the past week and a half painting Gillum as a greedy politician who pocketed thousands of dollars to keep up a lavish lifestyle that took a hit after he quit his job to run for governor.
Gillum had a large mortgage, was paying for private school for his children, and was making payments on two expensive cars when he quit his $120,000-a-year gig at the liberal advocacy group, People for the American Way.
“This case is not about politics,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan told jurors. “This case is about deceiving donors and stealing from his own campaign.”
Specifically, Gillum is accused of accepting $57,000 in political contributions.
Prosecutors also claimed Gillum lied to authorities about his dealings with undercover FBI agents who posed as developers and paid for a pricey 2016 trip for Gillum and his brother to New York City, complete with complimentary tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway. Gillum allegedly denied the interaction with the fake developers and said it was his brother who scored the hard-to-get theater tickets.
Gillum’s attorneys rested their case Thursday without calling any witnesses. Lettman-Hicks’s lawyers called three people to the stand: former state Rep. Alan Williams, who is currently a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; Alexandria Currie, president of the FAMU Federal Credit Union; and John Grayson, an accountant who worked at P&P Communications, where Lettman-Hicks was CEO.
PROSECUTORS CLAIM FORMER DEMOCRATIC STAR ANDREW GILLUM NEEDED MONEY FOR LAVISH LIFESTYLE
Williams testified he joined Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign after a surprising victory in a primary race that saw Gillum beat former Rep. Gwen Graham, a centrist. Gillum’s win was seen as one of the most significant progressive victories of the 2018 primary season in which Florida had emerged as a battleground.
On the stand, Williams said Lettman-Hicks was actively involved in the campaign’s get-out-the-vote drive. The Gillum campaign spent $130,000 on efforts in two Florida counties. Prosecutors argued $60,000 of it was illegally routed back to Lettman-Hicks and Gillum. Williams testified the campaign’s budget was probably less than it should have been and that paying $60,000 to a person who could help seemed reasonable.
Williams also spoke to Lettman-Hicks and Gillum’s characters, saying both had a reputation for being honest.
“I’d trust my children’s lives with Andrew Gillum,” Williams said.
Both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks have pleaded not guilty.
Gillum has long said he was targeted because he was a Democratic mayor and that his political rivals are behind his takedown. His fall from grace was further accentuated in March 2020, when he was caught up in a sex and drug scandal that made national headlines.
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Paramedics were called to a Miami Beach hotel room to treat a male sex worker suffering from a drug overdose. When they arrived, they also found Gillum incapacitated. They suspected he was on drugs but did not charge him.
Gillum said he abused alcohol and checked himself into rehab.
