Gillum trial Day 6: 'Frozen' funds and 'he's not doing this for free'

The public corruption trial of Andrew Gillum and Sharon Lettman-Hicks entered its second week and sixth day on Monday at the federal courthouse in Tallahassee. The government called an advisor to billionaire Gillum donor Donald Sussman and the person who managed the mayor’s Campaign to Defend Local Solutions.

Gillum, former Tallahassee mayor and the 2018 Democratic nominee for Florida governor, and Lettman-Hicks, his longtime mentor and owner of P&P Communications, are charged with illegally soliciting campaign donations and routing them to their own accounts. Gillum also is charged with lying to the FBI about gifts undercover FBI agents gave him during a 2016 trip to New York City.

Here are the latest developments in the trial. This report will be updated later this evening.

ANDREW GILLUM TRIAL: Chronicling the case

• Day 1: Jury selected, possible witnesses and an appeal to raise $1M

• Day 2 opening arguments: Money as a motive or forcing the evidence?

• Day 3: How agents confronted mayor at Cascades; Adam Corey's moment

• Day 4: Why the feds delayed charging Andrew Gillum and the money trail

• Day 5: Prosecutors trace money trail from 'urgent request' for $250K

• Decoding the indictment ABCs: Guide to the people, organizations in Andrew Gillum trial

Philanthropist gave $250K to passthrough PAC to avoid undercutting support for Gwen Graham

Harris Parnell, a political and philanthropic adviser to Donald Sussman, testified about meetings Gillum had with him in February and May 2017.

Sussman agreed to give to Gillum’s gubernatorial campaign, but he didn’t want the donations public in part because he served on the board of Emily’s List, which was supporting one of his opponents, Gwen Graham. Sussman also donated to Graham personally.

He gave one $250,000 check in February 2017 to the Collective Future PAC, which acted as a passthrough to Forward Florida, Gillum’s political committee. He gave another $250,000 check to The Opportunity to Learn Action Fund, a social welfare nonprofit allowed to expend some of its funds on partisan politics.

“When this was asked, what did you understand the money was being used for?” asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan II.

“The campaign,” Parnell replied.

“Would your organization have been OK” if the money had been used for an “illegal purpose?” Milligan asked.

“No,” she replied.

Under cross-examination by Gillum lawyer David Markus, Parnell acknowledged she wasn’t in the meetings with Gillum and Sussman and didn’t know exactly what was discussed.

After the primary, Sussman gave another $1 million directly to Forward Florida.

“Were there any complaints … that Mr. Sussman made about how Mr. Gillum spent that money?” Markus asked.

“No,” Parnell replied.

According to the indictment, $100,000 of Sussman’s second $250,000 contribution went to OTLAF and then onto Forward Florida. Another $132,500 was paid out to Lettman-Hicks’s firm, P&P Communications, and eventually, to Gillum and Lettman-Hicks.

Former mayor intern says he was told Gillum ‘not doing this for free’

Michael Alfano, a former intern in the Mayor’s Office who was picked by Gillum to manage the Campaign to Defend Local Solutions, testified about the group’s efforts to stop pre-emption of home rule by the state and its finances.

The CDLS, which had no formal corporate identity, partnered with the National Black Justice Coalition, which was led by Lettman-Hicks, to serve as fiscal sponsor.

According to the indictment, two $25,000 donations to CDLS, one from the New World Foundation and the other from the Foundation to Promote Open Society, were diverted to P&P and Gillum and Lettman-Hicks.

He testified that Lettman-Hicks informed him at one point that $50,000 in funds needed to be “frozen" until more money came into the campaign. Without that money, his budget projections showed CDLS in the red to the tune of about $11,000.

Alfano also told jurors that Lettman-Hicks mentioned Gillum directly during one of their conversations and recounted her words partially for the government. Under cross-examination by Gillum lawyer Margot Moss, he gave the full comment, which he said he shared earlier with the grand jury.

“I have to look out for the mayor,” Alfano said Lettman-Hicks told him. “He’s not doing this for free.”

During questioning by Mutaqee Akbar, one of Lettman-Hicks' lawyers, Alfano agreed that one reason she gave for freezing the $50,000 was to protect his salary as CDLS manager. He also went over CDLS financial records with Alfano showing how much money had been spent.

"It doesn't add up that $50,000 was stolen from CDLS," Akbar said.

"I don't have any opinion on whether things were stolen or not," Alfano said.

During redirect, Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Milligan II showed Alfano and jurors two different $25,000 withdrawal slips from NBJC with notations citing "CDLS" that were signed by Lettman-Hicks. He also showed him two cashier's checks for $25,000 that Lettman-Hicks allegedly purchased in March and May 2017.

"Those two payments ... for $25,000 each, those were never told to you?" Milligan asked.

"Correct," Alfano replied.

Gillum’s ‘gray area’: Emails reveal a mayor’s office entangled in professional and political work

The government also asked Alfano about an email Lettman-Hicks sent him in February 2017 saying CDLS had gotten $155,000 in financial commitments. At that time, he said he was only aware of about $110,000 in commitments.

“I didn’t understand the math, basically,” Alfano said.

Alfano said he cleared $1,600 or $1,700 every two-week pay period. But records listed his pay as higher.

He also testified about a $10,000 matching grant that CDLS received from the Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation. Alfano didn’t know what happened to the money or exactly how it was spent, he testified.

Moss asked about the $10,000 grant, which matched a gift from the New World Foundation. According to the indictment, some of the money donated by NWF made its way to Gillum and Lettman-Hicks personally.

"There was nothing secretive about this grant," Moss said. Later she asked whether the $10,000 was to cover rent that the People for the American Way Foundation paid for office space at Lettman-Hicks' office building on Melvin Street.

"That's what I was told," Alfano replied.

Former campaign staffer asked about six-figure Get Out the Vote payment

Shelby Green, former treasurer for the Gillum for Governor campaign and Forward Florida, testified that Lettman-Hicks was one of the mayor’s closest advisers. But she didn’t get along with Lettman-Hicks, whom she called “abrasive.”

She said Scott Arceneaux, a top Gillum adviser, directed her at one point to pay $130,000 to a host of people and firms, P&P included, for GOTV (Get Out The Vote) efforts that prosecutors have called into question.

“Are you aware of anything P&P was doing for that … effort?” Milligan asked.

“I was not,” replied Green, who is not the same Shelby Green who ran for a Tallahassee City Commission seat last year.

Akbar, during cross-examination, asked whether she was aware that unused GOTV money came back to the campaign.

“I was not aware of that at all,” she said.

The indictment alleges that $60,000 from the GOTV funds went to P&P for the personal benefit of Gillum and Lettman-Hicks.

Get out the vote help for down-ballot candidates, including Jones and Matlow, comes up in testimony

Laurise Thomas, who was brought into the Gillum campaign late in the election to help with GOTV, said she didn’t know about $60,000 payment to P&P, which was listed on an internal campaign document. She also said she didn’t know specifics about what P&P did to rally voters ahead of the election.

Thomas testified that to help down-ballot candidates, she coordinated Gillum GOTV efforts with three local campaigns: Darryl Jones for School Board, Jeremy Matlow for City Commission and Dustin Daniels, Gillum’s former chief of staff, for mayor. Matlow and Jones both went on to win their races.

She said she worked directly with reps from each of the campaigns, which included political operative Max Herrle from the Matlow organization and another person whose name she couldn’t remember but said was Matlow’s aide. Ryan Ray, elected last year as chair of the Leon County Democratic Party, has served as Matlow’s aide for years.

It’s not entirely clear how the down-ballot races, which came up previously in the trial, figure into the government’s case. During cross-examination by Alex Morris, a Lettman-Hicks lawyer, she agreed with his assessment that everyone was “working collectively to get out the vote.”

Gavel to gavel coverage

While cameras and electronics are not allowed in the courtroom, stay tuned to tallahassee.com for daily updates from longtime investigative reporter Jeff Burlew (@JeffBurlew on Twitter).

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Andrew Gillum Trial Day 6: Updates from Florida courtroom