Gillam pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee. The trial was scheduled for August 16th.
The grand jury’s 26-page indictment, released Wednesday, alleges that Gillam and his longtime collaborator, Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks, were involved in a long-running scheme to turn political donations and grants into personal income. According to a statement from the Ministry of Justice, the two received funds through “false and fraudulent promises and statements that the funds will be used for lawful purposes.”
Gillam was also accused of lying to the FBI during an investigation into corruption in the Tallahassee town hall, where Gillam was mayor, and was accused of promising political services to those who supported him financially.
Gil, 42, and Letman-Hicks, 53, face 21 charges, according to a press release. Giving a false statement carries a sentence of up to five years in prison, while the maximum term of imprisonment for wire fraud and conspiracy charges is 20 years.
In a statement issued before the government announced the charges, Gillam pleaded not guilty and suggested the case against him was political.
“I have spent the last 20 years of my life in public service and I continue to fight for the people,” Gillam said. “Every campaign I’ve run has been done honestly. Don’t be fooled that this case is not legal, it’s political. Throughout my career, I’ve always stood up for the people of Florida and told the truth to the authorities.”
Gillam is a former CNN political commentator.
A joint statement from Mark Elias, a prominent election lawyer, and David Oscar Marcus, a Miami criminal defense attorney, said: “The government is confused today.”
The indictment is the latest drop in the descent of someone who was once one of the fastest-growing Democratic politicians. Gillam rose to national prominence in 2018 as the first black man to be nominated for governor in Florida history, but stepped up after losing to Republican Ron DeSantis in November by less than 33,000 votes. His star crashed in March 2020 when police responded to a possible overdose call and said they found Gillum in a Miami hotel room with a bag of crystalline methamphetamine and a collapsed companion. Gillum later went into rehab. DeSantis spokeswoman Christina Pushaw wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Thirty thousand votes … Able to more than 21 million people. DeSantis won 0.4% That’s what saved Florida. Your voice matters. “
The allegations in the indictment cover the rise of Gillam as mayor of Tallahassee through his campaign for governor and his political work after his defeat. According to the indictment, since 2016, Gillum and Lettman-Hicks have repeatedly used subjects, one controlled or another, to request donations that will later go to personal use.
On several occasions, the money donated to these entities found its way to a media consulting firm owned by Lettman-Hicks, which it “then fraudulently provided to Gillum for his personal use disguised as payroll,” according to the indictment.
One example alleges that Gillum and Lettman-Hicks contributed $ 250,000 to a separate organization 501 (c) 4, “run by an acquaintance whom Gillum and Lettman-Hicks can control.” They then tried to cover up the fraud, including by filing fraudulent documents, the indictment said.
“It’s like a Greek tragedy,” said John Morgan, a lawyer in Orlando who donated to Gillum’s 2018 campaign. “Andrew Gillum himself destroyed the Florida Democratic Party for the foreseeable future. And that’s his legacy.”
Letman-Hicks has been named chief executive of the National Black Coalition for Justice, an LGBTQ advocacy group, and is a candidate for state representative. She has been described as Gillum’s mentor and the two have worked closely since Gillum’s first campaign for Tallahassee city commissioner two decades ago. In 2019, Gillum launched a new business, CJD Group, LLC. Lettman-Hicks was named in the company’s registration documents filed in the state.
Questions about their working relationship first arose during his campaign for governor. Gillam cited Letman-Hicks’ work on government financial disclosure documents, but declined to describe his role in her company. At the same time, Gillum’s campaign leased office space from the Lettman-Hicks organization.
After the defeat of Gillam, when he became the face of the Florida Democrats and led new efforts to register voters in the state, Letman-Hicks won a prominent place in the state Democratic Party. At one point, she was the party’s highest paid employee this year, according to campaign finance records.
In 2019, an expired summons from a federal grand jury for the first time suggests that investigators are reviewing the links between Gillam and Lettman-Hicks. The summons, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, asked an associate to hand over documents related to Lettman-Hicks, Gillum, his gubernatorial campaign and other organizations related to both individuals. By year’s end, a political committee to fund Gillam’s future political endeavors had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs.
At the time, Lettman-Hicks wrote on Facebook that she was a “pawn used by the oppressor” to take down Gillam.
For years, Gillam has been confronted with rumors that the FBI is surrounding his political activities. His campaign for governor was sparked by an extensive federal inspection of the Tallahassee City Hall, which revealed that Gillam had accepted Broadway tickets for the musical “Hamilton” and other privileges from an undercover FBI agent posing as a developer. The investigation led to the conviction of a Tallahassee commissioner and two businessmen, but Gillam was never charged. He eventually ordered a state ethics investigation, paying a $ 5,000 fine.
According to the indictment, released Wednesday, he lied to federal investigators when he was interviewed about public corruption in Tallahassee. Gillam, prosecutors said, falsely told FBI agents he was never offered or given by the developer and stopped communicating with the developer after they tried to link political contributions to support for potential Tallahassee projects.
Even amid his problems with the law, Gillam retained his newly discovered national status for some time after his defeat. CNN hired him as a political commentator, and Harvard University chose him to be a guest speaker. It has become a soundboard for the Democratic presidential candidates for 2020, who have been eager to win the approval of the young black leader.
After his clash with police in 2020 in South Florida, Gillam disappeared for a while. He announced that he would enter rehabilitation, saying in a statement: “I will retire from all public roles in the foreseeable future.”
But his exit from the spotlight was brief. In a revealing interview later in 2020 with TV presenter Tamron Hall, Gillam talked about his problems with drug abuse after losing to DeSantis. He also said he identified as bisexual.
Recently, Gillum hosted a podcast interviewing prominent progressives and black thought leaders. He recently published a discussion with Lafonsa Butler, president of the abortion rights group EMILY’s List.
CNN’s Evan Perez, Lizzie Jury and Hailey Wilson contributed to this report.
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