Feds Drop Charges Against Andrew Gillum After Florida Mistrial
Federal prosecutors in the Andrew Gillum corruption case moved to dismiss the remaining charges against the former Tallahassee mayor, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
On Monday (May 15) in U.S. District Court in Florida, prosecutors moved to “dismiss the indictment against the Defendants Andrew Gillum and Sharon Lettman-Hicks,” instead of seeking a new trial.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor would have to give the motion his final approval to officially dismiss the case.
In response to the decision, Gillum tweeted “But God.”
David Oscar Markus, Margot Moss, and Katie Miller, Gillum’s legal team, issued a statement about their client’s legal battle is coming to an end.
“Andrew Gillum had the courage to stand up and say I am innocent. And that is finally being recognized," their joint statement read. "We want to thank the hard-working jury who did their job and explained to the government why it should drop the case. Andrew has endured a lot over the past few years and now can resume his life and public service."
In June 2022, Gillum was accused of funneling campaign contributions into his personal bank accounts in conjunction with his mentor and “political godmother,” Sharon Lettman-Hicks. Eventually, he was charged with 21 counts, including “a single count of lying to FBI agents.”
The campaign raised $37 Million and $57,000 allegedly was discovered in Gillum’s personal account in what prosecutors described as “a complicated web of financial transactions.”
Earlier this month, a jury found Andrew Gillum not guilty of lying to investigators in his public corruption trial. According to the 2022 federal indictment, Gillum was accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and lying to FBI agents at various times between 2016 and 2019. Gillum, who once was seen as a future leader in the Democratic Party, lost the 2018 Florida gubernatorial race to Ron DeSantis by less than 40,000 votes.
Following the not-guilty verdict, Gillum released a statement thanking his attorneys and the jury saying the“system is in desperate need of reform.”
“We live to fight another day,” Gillum said at the time.
The motion to dismiss charges against Gillum could be taken up as early as Wednesday, during a telephone conference with Winsor presiding.