An undercover agent who was investigating Andrew Gillum for “alleged unethical misconduct” could testify against him in his upcoming ethics case, according to court records filed Monday.
“Mike Miller,” who posed as a developer looking to do business in Tallahassee in 2016, would say that he paid for Gillum’s activities while hanging out in New York City that year, according to the ethics commission’s advocate.
Those activities likely include paying for a ticket to the Broadway musical “Hamilton” and a boat ride around the Statue of Liberty with former lobbyist Adam Corey.
But whether the agent will show up is uncertain, according to Gillum’s lawyer, Barry Richard. He said the FBI has not made him available to the commission’s advocate, Elizabeth Miller.
“To my knowledge, she has not yet gotten agreement from the FBI to get him to testify,” Richard said. “They haven’t made him available to anybody.”
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, where Miller works, implied otherwise.
“We have information to suggest the FBI may voluntarily produce a witness,” spokesman Whitney Ray said.
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TALLAHASSEE
An undercover agent who was investigating Andrew Gillum for “alleged unethical misconduct” could testify against him in his upcoming ethics case, according to court records filed Monday.
“Mike Miller,” who posed as a developer looking to do business in Tallahassee in 2016, would say that he paid for Gillum’s activities while hanging out in New York City that year, according to the ethics commission’s advocate.
Those activities likely include paying for a ticket to the Broadway musical “Hamilton” and a boat ride around the Statue of Liberty with former lobbyist Adam Corey.
But whether the agent will show up is uncertain, according to Gillum’s lawyer, Barry Richard. He said the FBI has not made him available to the commission’s advocate, Elizabeth Miller.
“To my knowledge, she has not yet gotten agreement from the FBI to get him to testify,” Richard said. “They haven’t made him available to anybody.”
A spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, where Miller works, implied otherwise.
“We have information to suggest the FBI may voluntarily produce a witness,” spokesman Whitney Ray said.
Regardless, Richard said he’s hoping the FBI agent does show up. He didn’t oppose the idea in court motions.
“We’d like him to testify,” Richard said. “We think it would support Andrew’s version of what occurred.”
Miller wrote that the FBI had been actively investigating Gillum, however — a sign that the former Tallahassee mayor might not easily escape the ethics charges that dogged his campaign for governor last year.
“The FBI used various investigative techniques, including the efforts of possibly two undercover agents to reveal the full extent of Respondent’s alleged unethical misconduct,” Miller wrote.
The ethics commission ruled in January that there was probable cause to go forward with claims that Gillum accepted favors from Corey without disclosing them.
Gillum has said that he paid for trip expenses with cash and believed the “Hamilton” ticket came from his brother. He faces fines for each of five violations.
Miller asked an administrative law judge to keep secret the real identity of “Mike Miller” and allow him to wear a disguise if he appears in court. A second undercover agent, “Mike Sweets,” is also on Miller’s witness list but is not expected to testify during the hearing, scheduled for April 24-26.
Corey is also among the 23 people on Miller’s list, and he will testify that Gillum did not reimburse him during a trip to Costa Rica in 2016, and that FBI agents paid for the ticket and the boat ride.
Richard, however, said that Corey has been unresponsive to his requests to be deposed before the hearing, and he doubts whether Corey will show up.
Miller asked to postpone the hearing because Corey’s lawyer has had health problems, but Gillum doesn’t want to delay it.
“He’d like it to be heard,” Richard said. “He doesn’t want to drag this thing out forever when people keep speculating on stuff.”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article228717114.html