Noted Motel Messer Andrew Gillum Indicted for Fraudulently Diverting Campaign Donations For Personal Use, Making False Statements, and Conspiracy

He's currently running for a House seat.

But it looks like he's sh** the motel room bed. Again.

Gillum, the former Tallahassee mayor, was charged along with his mentor, Sharon Lettman-Hicks, for fraudulently fundraising from "various entities" between 2016 to 2019, according to a Department of Justice press release. The Justice Department said the two allegedly diverted some of the money to a company controlled by Lettman-Hicks, who fraudulently disguised the funds as payroll payments to Gillum.

In a written statement, Gillum and his lawyers proclaimed his innocence. Lettman-Hicks -- a candidate for a state House seat -- has not returned texts or calls from NBC News requesting comment.

...

The indictment marks a new low for Gillum, a married father of three who withdrew from public life as a political leader and a paid CNN commentator after a March 2020 sex scandal involving a suspected male overdose victim in a South Beach hotel.

At the time, Gillum said he was abusing alcohol as he coped with his loss to DeSantis, but campaign finance records and a leaked criminal subpoena in 2019 showed that Gillum also faced the pressure of an FBI investigation.

Two sources with whom Gillum spoke Tuesday told NBC News that he began phoning friends frantically about the criminal case when he was informed that his indictment was imminent. Neither would speak on the record because they weren't authorized to speak on his behalf. They said Gillum rendered himself to prosecutors at 10 a.m. and that his indictment could be unsealed at 1 p.m. ET. He makes his first appearance at 2 p.m., according to DOJ.

"He's down. He's sad. He feels beat up," one of the sources said.

Usually he pays extra for that.

Note that the feds allowed him to turn himself in. Because he's a Democrat. If he had been a Republican, they would have sent FBI frogmen to arrest him at an airport and slap leg-irons on him during a CNN photo-op.

Both face 19 counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum 20-year mandatory minimum. Gillum faces two additional charges of lying to investigators, each charge of which carries a maximum 5-year sentence.

posted by Ace at 02:51 PM

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