Prosecutors painted former Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum as a greedy politician who illegally solicited campaign donations and pocketed the money to keep up his lavish lifestyle in his race against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
Gillum, a former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, who came within a percentage point of becoming the state's first black governor, is on trial for corruption and faces substantial time behind bars if he is convicted on conspiracy and multiple counts of wire fraud.
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Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan told jurors Tuesday that Gillum was making payments on two expensive cars, paying private school tuition for his children, and living well when he quit his six-figure job at People for the American Way to run for the Democratic nomination.
"This case is not about politics. This case is about deceiving donors and stealing from his own campaign," Milligan said during his opening arguments.
The 43-year-old, who lost the race against DeSantis in 2018, is accused of accepting $57,000 in political contributions that were funneled through the company of his longtime political adviser Sharon Lettman-Hicks and deposited into his personal piggy bank.
Prosecutors also claim 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 is facing 19 counts of wire fraud, making false statements, and conspiracy to commit fraud. The wire-fraud charges carry a maximum prison term of 20 years, and the charge of making false statements has a maximum term of five years.
Lettman-Hicks is a co-defendant in the case. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Gillum has long said he was targeted because he was a Democratic mayor, but prosecutors said he wasn't even on the FBI's radar when agents arrived in Tallahassee in 2015 for "Operation Capital Currency." Instead, they were focused on John Burnette, a wealthy developer, who was later convicted of bribery.
Burnette told the undercover FBI agents posing as investors with Southern Pines Development to hire Gillum's close friend Adam Corey, a lobbyist, to introduce them to city and county commissioners.
In August 2016, the agents met with Gillum, Corey, and Gillum's brother, Marcus, in New York. On another trip to Nashville, Tennessee, Marcus Gillum purportedly asked the agents for four $25,000 donations to seal the mayor's support for four projects.
Andrew Gillum's lawyer Margot Moss tried to pin all of the shady dealings on Marcus Gillum, claiming he solicited donations for Andrew Gillum's campaign for governor because he was trying to impress his older brother.
"Marcus says crazy things," Moss told jurors. "Marcus says unbelievable things. But he is not Andrew Gillum. Marcus is all talk. That's why they went to Marcus Gillum."
Prosecutors on Wednesday are expected to call one of the FBI undercover agents, Brian Butler, to the stand. They are also expected to call Corey.
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Andrew Gillum, a once-rising star of the Democratic Party, was a popular and charismatic politician who had high aspirations. His fall from grace, however, was quick and very public.
In March 2020, he was caught up in a sex and drug scandal. 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 Andrew Gillum incapacitated. They suspected he was on drugs but did not charge him. Andrew Gillum said he abused alcohol and checked himself into rehab.