A Leon County jury has found state Rep. Fabián Basabe liable for sexual harassment and defamation, capping nearly three years of legal wrangling since two former legislative staffers sued the Miami Beach Republican.
The jury returned its verdict Wednesday afternoon after about two hours of deliberation, finding Basabe should pay $450,000 in damages, as reported by WCTV.
Former aide Nicolas Frevola and former intern Jacob Cutbirth first brought the lawsuit in 2023. They accused Basabe of a pattern of harassment, one that included an allegation that he sexually assaulted a male associate of Frevola who was staying over at Basabe’s Miami home. Frevola’s mother, Janette Frevola, is also a plaintiff on the defamation claim.
Basabe represented himself at trial and rested his case Wednesday morning without calling any witnesses.
“I chose to defend myself because I am still naïve enough to believe that truth matters, that an ordinary citizen can stand in court, defend himself, and be judged on the facts. I believed representing myself was the right thing to do because I am innocent and because, before this civil trial, these allegations had already been the subject of four investigations and ethics proceedings that concluded without substantiating the misconduct alleged against me,” Basabe said.
“Looking back, representing myself was a mistake. I underestimated how different civil litigation is from what most people believe. It operates under different standards, different procedures, and different rules. That is the lesson I take from today. This is a difficult time for me and my family, but their confidence in who I am has not changed. Neither has my determination. For now, I have no further comment on this matter.”
Attorney Cindy Myers said the verdict brought long delayed justice to the young men.
“Nicholas Frevola and Jacob Cutbirth have been totally vindicated in a court of law today, and I’m incredibly proud of both of them for seeking accountability from Mr. Basabe, even when doing so came at tremendous pressure and stress to them both,” Myers told Florida Politics.
“Not only has Mr. Basabe lied about his actions, he called both of them liars and trashed them every opportunity he has had. This is why we have courts of law in this country: so that the field is level and fair, for everyone.”
The outcome was radically different from multiple ethics probes conducted by the Florida House and state government.
The Florida Commission on Ethics concluded in a March 6 decision that there was no probable cause to believe Basabe violated state law or the Florida Constitution by using his position for personal benefit. Weeks earlier, the panel dismissed a first complaint tied to the harassment claims.
In 2023, an investigation by law firm GrayRobinson found no evidence of wrongdoing after Cutbirth and Frevola alleged Basabe engaged in unwanted touching of both men during the short time each worked for him. That came months after a separate probe by firm Allen Norton & Blue found the evidence behind an alleged slap “inconclusive.”
Myers criticized all prior investigations as whitewashes intended to gloss over Basabe’s wrongdoing. The Miami Beach Republican represents a battleground district in South Florida.
“Today, Mr. Basabe did not have his friends in the Florida House of Representatives helping him cover up the facts and the evidence,” she said. “This jury weighed my clients’ credibility against Mr. Basabe’s, and the jury believed them, not Mr. Basabe.”
She said numerous people in Tallahassee had witnessed much of the inappropriate touching.
“The jury found Mr. Basabe guilty of defaming Nick, of battering Nick by slapping him across the face on January 3rd at The Southern Group, of slapping him on his rear and whispering in his ear ‘I want all of that butt’ while they were standing in the back of a classroom full of elementary school children, and sexually harassing him on multiple occasions,” Myers said.
“The jury also found Mr. Basabe guilty of groping and trying to kiss Mr. Cutbirth the night that Mr. Cutbirth, after promising Mr. Frevola that he’d get Mr. Basabe safely back to his hotel room, did exactly that, drove him to his hotel. And the jury found Mr. Basabe guilty of telling Mr. Cutbirth to flirt with him more when Mr. Basabe was in the office, to act like ‘eye candy’ in front of members of the Miami Chamber of Commerce visiting Mr. Basabe’s office, of asking him how big his genitals were, of encouraging him to break off his engagement with his wife to have sex with Mr. Basabe and other men for sport, and more inappropriate sexually harassing statements. How this man got re-elected in Miami is beyond me, and it goes without saying that the voters in that district should seriously reconsider sending him back to office again when the next election is held later this year.”
Basabe, first elected by less than a percentage point in 2022 and re-elected by a 4-point margin in 2024, is seeking another term in House District 106, which covers Miami Beach and surrounding coastal communities in northeast Miami-Dade County. Two Democrats, Lucia Báez-Geller and Ashley Litwin Diego, are competing to challenge him in November. Myers hopes voters reassess the race based on the jury result.
“Miami can, and should, do way better. But, we are not done yet here,” Myers said. “We have a companion lawsuit against the Florida House of Representatives for covering up what Mr. Basabe did to these two young men, who once believed in the dignity of that institution, and who had plans to continue to serve there in the future, possibly as politicians themselves. We sincerely hope that today’s jury verdict serves as a warning to all politicians to not capitalize on their imbalance of power, and their close proximity to young men and women, with whom they work.”