Andrew Gillum faces 21-count federal indictment, proclaims innocence

The first Black candidate for governor in Florida history, who came within a hair of beating Ron DeSantis in 2018, appeared before a federal judge Wednesday afternoon for an indictment hearing after being arrested by the FBI that same day.

A 20-count indictment accuses Andrew Gillum and his campaign associate, Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, with conspiracy, and wire fraud, according to a news release from the Department of Justice. 

Gillum faces an additional charge for making false statements to FBI agents. The charges cover alleged crimes that took place during his time as Tallahassee mayor and his run for governor.

Pleading not guilty to all charges against him, Gillum was released from jail under the condition that he would report to a probation officer and receive approval before leaving the Northern District of Florida.

He is set to appear before Judge Allen Winsor on Aug. 16. The case will be prosecuted by U.S. Assistant Attorneys Stephen Kunz and Andrew Grogan.

“The evidence in this case is clear and will show that Mr. Gillum is innocent of all charges,” said attorneys Marc Elias and David Oscar Markus in a joint statement. “We look forward to putting this case to rest and giving Andrew and his family peace of mind once and for all.”

Lettman-Hicks, a candidate for Florida’s House District 8, also pleaded not guilty to all 20 charges against her. She filed to run at the beginning of this month and has not yet spoken publicly on how the indictment will impact her candidacy to replace Rep. Ramon Alexander.

If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years for each wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge while Gillum would get five years for the false statements alone. 

In a preemptive strike by Gillum’s attorneys before the indictment was even unsealed, a statement was released in which Gillum stuck by his previous claims of a political witch hunt.

“Every campaign I’ve run has been done with integrity.” Gillum wrote. “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.”

Gillum may have run away with the 2018 election had his campaign not been hammered with allegations of ethics violations in its final months. They stemmed from his time as mayor for allegedly accepting gifts from Tallahassee entrepreneur Adam Corey and undercover FBI agents posing as developers as part of a federal investigation into corruption.

The former mayor won a surprise victory that year over former U.S. Rep. Gwen Graham, Miami Mayor Phil Levine, and others in a crowded primary. Then he lost to DeSantis by just 0.4%, or about 30,000 votes.

Federal prosecutors allege in the indictment that, between 2016-2019, Gillum and Lettman-Hicks -- one of his closest advisors -- solicited and obtained money from people “through false and fraudulent promises and representations that the funds would be used for a legitimate purpose,” according to a news release. Instead, that money was diverted to a company owned by Lettman-Hicks, who paid Gillum “disguised as payroll payments ... for his personal use.”

Three of the counts involved Lettman-Hicks sending text messages including needing “to move 250K... ASAP” and that the contributor was “breathing down [her] neck and may demand his money back.”

Orlando attorney John Morgan, who along with his firm gave Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign more than $3 million, had threatened to sue the candidate for the way campaign money was spent.  

“At this point nothing about him would surprise me,” Morgan said in an email to the South Florida SunSentinel Wednesday. “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.”

This story has been updated from it's original posting on the morning of June 22, 2022.