Former Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum, who narrowly lost to now-Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2018, is facing a 21-count federal indictment for alleged fraud in connection with his campaign.
Both Gillum and one of his top advisers, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, have been charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and making false statements.
“Between 2016 and 2019, defendants Gillum and Lettman-Hicks conspired to commit wire fraud by unlawfully soliciting and obtaining funds from various entities and individuals through false and fraudulent promises and representations that the funds would be used for a legitimate purpose,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
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“The Indictment further alleges the defendants used third parties to divert a portion of those funds to a company owned by Lettman-Hicks, who then fraudulently provided the funds, disguised as payroll payments, to Gillum for his personal use.”
Gillum appeared in federal court in Tallahassee on Wednesday afternoon wearing handcuffs with his legs shackled, the Tampa Bay Times reported. Lettman-Hicks sat near him in a wheelchair. The duo pleaded not guilty before being released with an order that they cannot speak to each other.
“We’re all concerned about money passing hands,” Magistrate Judge Charles Stampelos said, according to the paper. “You’re both adults. You can’t talk about this case.”
If convicted, both Gillum and Lettman-Hicks face up to 5 years in federal prison for making false statements, up to 20 years for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and another 20 years for the act of wire fraud, the indictment says.
Federal prosecutors detailed a series of meetings set up by a fake city developer—actually an FBI agent—and Gillum, in which the former candidate avoided gift disclosures and accepted free dinners. In other instances, a separate individual and Gillum discussed ways they could get tens of thousands to Gillum anonymously, the indictment says.
Gillum is also accused of defrauding a contributor—identified as Individual F—to his 2018 campaign of more than half his $250,000 donation. Gillum did this, the feds say, by moving most of the donation money to a marketing company, P&P Communications, which was controlled by Lettman-Hicks. Just $100,000 was deposited into Gillum’s campaign.
P&P Communications dished out regular payments to Gillum, the indictment said, including six payments of $5,000 to Gillum’s personal account, as well as four “end of year bonuses.”
“Pursuant to the fraudulent contract, P&P obtained $132,500 of Individual F’s campaign contribution, which was then disbursed to Lettman-Hicks and Gillum,” the indictment said.
In dealing with this donor—who was not named in the indictment—Lettman-Hicks allegedly sent texts that said they needed “to move 250K... ASAP” and the contributor was “breathing down [her] neck and may demand his money back.”
To try and cover this up, Gillum filed fraudulent campaign reports, the indictment says.
John Morgan, a prominent lawyer in the Southeast, donated more than $3 million to Gillum’s campaign. That’s a decision he’s grown to regret, he told the Orlando Sentinel on Wednesday, and he may soon file a lawsuit against Gillum.
“At this point nothing about him would surprise me,” Morgan told the paper. “He kept my money and others. Millions. He didn’t spend it on the campaign and lost by a whisker. He destroyed the Democratic Party forever in Florida.”
In total, Gillum had $3 million in unspent funds in his political committee Forward Florida, Florida Politics reported.
In a statement Wednesday, Gillum insisted the charges were “political.” The office of Gov. DeSantis told The Daily Beast on Wednesday it would not comment on the indictment.
“I have spent the last 20 years of my life in public service and continue to fight for the people,” Gillum said.
“Every campaign I’ve run has been done with integrity. Make no mistake that this case is not legal, it is political. Throughout my career, I have always stood up for the people of Florida and have spoken truth to power. 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.”
This isn’t Gillum’s first run-in with the FBI. As mayor of Tallahassee, the bureau investigated Gillum as part of a probe into public corruption at Tallahassee City Hall. Gillum wasn't arrested or charged in the investigation immediately, but it revealed that he had accepted tickets to the Broadway show Hamilton, a free hotel stay, and a harbor cruise from an undercover FBI agent in New York City, for which he was fined $5,000 by a state ethics committee.
The indictment accuses Gillum of lying to the feds about the trip, telling them—and reporters at the time—that his brother bought him the show ticket.
The Democratic Party cut ties with Lettman-Hicks in 2019, after a federal subpoena requested documents related to Gillum’s campaign and P&P Communications. Despite this, Lettman-Hicks announced this month that she intended to run as a Democrat in a crowded field for Florida House District 8 in the Florida Panhandle.
Gillum, meanwhile, hasn’t run for political office since his defeat to DeSantis, but he’s still managed to make headlines.
His fall from grace began when police found him inebriated on the floor of a South Beach hotel room in 2020, and he was suspected of overdosing on crystal meth along with another man, who was later identified as a reputed escort. Photos from the scene, which showed Gillum naked on the ground, quickly went viral.
Gillum, who was within 34,000 votes of becoming Florida’s governor just two years prior, denied using drugs and claimed he had simply had too much to drink the night before. Still, the then-40-year-old said he was withdrawing himself from political life and entering a rehab facility. Later that year, he went on The Tamron Hall Show with his wife and announced he was bisexual.
“When that photo came out, I didn’t recognize the person on the floor,” he said then. “I would say the reason why I went to that room is probably no different than how anybody might communicate with someone that they are in a friendship, relationship, whatever, with. I understand very well what people assume about that.”
