Democratic rising star Andrew Gillum found not guilty of lying to the FBI, jury deadlocked on 17 other charges
Barnini Chakraborty
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A Florida jury on Thursday found Andrew Gillum, a once-rising star in the Democratic Party, not guilty of lying to the FBI but was deadlocked on 17 other charges against him stemming from allegations he illegally solicited campaign donations and then funneled them into his account.
The former Tallahassee mayor faced 17 counts of wire fraud and a wire fraud conspiracy count, each carrying a maximum of 20 years behind bars. He was also charged with a single count of lying to the FBI, which carries a five-year maximum sentence. He pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
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The jury reached a verdict on the FBI charge relatively quickly but struggled for nearly a week to find a consensus on the conspiracy charge and the wire fraud charges.
Gillum’s wife, R. Jai, began to cry as the verdict was announced, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Prosecutors spent a 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 in a surprisingly close race that pitted him against Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). Had he won, Gillum would have become Florida’s first black governor.
Closing arguments, which began Friday, lasted three hours.
Prosecutors alleged Gillum and his friend P&P Communications owner Sharon Lettman-Hicks hatched a plan to skim money from grants and donations to his campaign.Â
“You’ll see the pattern repeating over and over,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Grogan told jurors. “Once the money comes in, it goes right out to pay his salary.”
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,” another prosecutor, Gary Milligan, said. “This case is about deceiving donors and stealing from his own campaign.”
Specifically, Gillum was accused of accepting $57,000 in political contributions. Prosecutors also said he 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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Gillum said he abused alcohol and checked himself into rehab.
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