On Wednesday, Democrat Andrew Gillum faced 21 felonies in Federal Court. These were related to the failed Florida gubernatorial election campaign. He lost it to Rep. Ron DeSantis.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice press release, Gillum was indicted along with Sharon Lettman–Hicks. They are accused of conspiring to commit wire fraud to divert funds back to Gillum to use for their personal purposes.
“A federal grand jury has returned a twenty-one count indictment against Andrew Demetric Gillum, 42, and Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, 53, both of Tallahassee, Florida. The indictment was announced by Jason R. Coody, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida,”The DOJ said.
Press release from the DOJ added:
Indictment states that defendants Gillum, Lettman–Hicks and others conspired in wire fraud. They unlawfully solicited and obtained funds from different entities and people through fraudulent promises and representations about legitimate uses. Indictment also alleges that defendants conspired to use third parties to divert funds from various entities to LettmanHicks’s company. LettmanHicks then fraudulently gave the funds as payroll payments to Gillum. The Indictment charges both defendants with 19 counts each of wire fraud. Gillum also faces charges for making false statements to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
The initial appearance is scheduled for Wednesday, June 22, 2022, at 2:00 pm, at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee in the Magistrate Judge’s Courtroom on the main floor.
For the following offenses, maximum prison terms are:
Five years of making false statements
20 years: Wire Fraud conspiracy
Wire Fraud: Twenty years
NEW: 2018 Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum has been indicted on 21 counts connected to campaign wire fraud https://t.co/4YpRynxEIE
— Axios (@axios) June 22, 2022
Democrat Andrew Gillum lost to Ron DeSantis. He has now turned to law enforcement to face the alleged charges.
Gillum claims he’s innocent of these charges "political."
He is being charged by Biden's DOJ. https://t.co/RER5GgyC2J
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) June 22, 2022
Gillum, Lettman-Hicks and others are due to appear at Tallahassee (Florida) court on Wednesday.
“Every campaign I’ve run has been done with integrity. Make no mistake that this case is not legal, it is political,”Gillum stated this in a Wednesday statement.
“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,”He added.
“The government got it wrong today. The evidence in this case is clear and will show that Mr. Gillum is innocent of all charges,” Gillum’s lawyers, Marc Elias and David Markus, said in the statement.
“We look forward to putting this case to rest and giving Andrew and his family peace of mind once and for all,”They also added.
Gillum was the subject of national attention in 2020, when authorities discovered him in a hotel with an escort male and crystal methamphetamine in small bags.
“Plastic baggies of suspected crystal meth, empty beer bottles, and prescription pills are seen scattered among the trash and soiled bedding in the shocking images,”According to the Daily Mail, “He was inside room 1107 with two more men, one of them a hunky 30-year-old male escort named Travis Dyson, who was found naked and in the throes of a drug overdose.”
Conservative Brief’s first article, Democrat Andrew Gillum Convicted of 21 Felonies in Campaign that Lose To DeSantis.
The full article is available here here
