The Department of Justice said on Wednesday that former Democratic candidate for governor of Florida Andrew Gillum has been indicted on accusations of conspiracy and 19 counts of wire fraud, Fox News informed.
Former Tallahassee mayor Gillum is accused of conspiring with friend Sharon Janet Lettman-Hicks to make fraudulent promises and representations in order to raise money.
According to a Justice Department press statement, the indictment also alleges that they engaged third parties to redirect a portion of those money to a corporation managed by Lettman-Hicks, who then unlawfully delivered the cash to Gillum for personal use, camouflaged as payroll payments.
The Justice Department merely stated that the alleged plan ran from 2016 to 2019 without going into further detail.
According to local reports from Tallahassee Democrat, Gillum and Lettman-Hicks are accused of soliciting campaign donations from undercover Federal agents.
Additionally, Gillum is accused of lying to the FBI.
Gillum refuted accusations of impropriety in a statement released by his campaign and made public by the Tallahassee publication.
Gillum stated that he has devoted the last 20 years of his life to public service and argued that he still fights for the people.
He also stated that he has always conducted his campaigns ethically, adding that people should not be misled and that this case was political, and far from legal.
On Wednesday in the afternoon, Gillum is due in court for the first time.
In 2018, the former mayor narrowly lost his bid to succeed Ron DeSantis as governor of Florida.
He has experienced a litany of issues ever since.
After discovering probable cause that Gillum accepted gifts from lobbyists in 2016, state officials in 2019 filed an ethics complaint against him.
In 2020, Gillum checked himself into treatment after police discovered him unconscious in a hotel room with two other men in Miami Beach, where they also discovered what they thought to be crystal methamphetamine.
While Gillum denied using narcotics, he did acknowledge having issues with drinking.
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