Former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles found guilty of campaign finance and registration violations

Former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, an ex-Marine who more recently has shaped political campaigns as a lobbyist and consultant, was found guilty Monday of campaign finance and voter registration violations.

It took a Miami-Dade jury just over six hours to reach a unanimous verdict in a case built around a ghost candidate who likely tipped a tight election and behind-the-scenes and rarely-seen political operatives. The two-week trial engrossed Florida’s political establishment from its southern coasts to the northern capital.

Artiles and his attorneys stood stoic as the verdict was read, their hands clasped in front of them, family members and friends standing along rows of benches behind. The former senator was fingerprinted but not handcuffed — his family surrounding him blocking the view — before being released by Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Miguel M. de la O.

Artiles wouldn’t comment as the group made its way out of the courtroom. Defense attorney Frank Quintero thanked the jurors, then promised an appeal. As he addressed the media, Quintero said he found it helpful that jurors listed all the instances they considered excessive contributions.

“They were actually business transactions that he (third party candidate Alexis Rodriguez) screwed Mr. Artiles for,” said Quintero. “It’s going to be a long fight. This fight is not over.”

Artiles, 51, married with two daughters, was found guilty of excessive campaign contributions, conspiracy to commit excessive contributions and falsely swearing an oath, all felonies that could carry five-year sentences. He was cleared of a fourth charge, aiding a false registration.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle applauded the jury for understanding the case’s complexities and realizing that Artiles was the “mastermind” of the “ghost candidate scandal.”

“These felony convictions show that the jurors agreed that we can not tolerate the violation of our laws to gain a political advantage,” she said in a prepared statement.

De la O is expected to sentence Artiles sometime after Oct. 21.

During the two-week trial it was explained how a long-time Republican party operative reached out to Artiles for help in the 2020 race for the District 37 Senate seat, which at the time covered a large swath of Miami-Dade County from Miami Beach south and through Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay.

Lead prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen explained to jurors how the former state senator — after working out a contract agreement with the owner of a Gainesville area Republican political research and marketing firm — engineered a plan to run a machine parts salesman as a third party candidate in the race in order to siphon votes from the Democratic front-runner.

The plan worked.

Ileana Garcia, a former Spanish radio host and founder of Latinas for Trump, defeated Democrat Jose Javier Rodriguez by a mere 32 votes after a recount. VanderGiesen told jurors that Alexis Rodriguez — the ghost candidate running as an independent — was promised $50,000 by Artiles. In a race decided by less than three dozen votes after a runoff, more than 6,000 residents voted for Alexis Rodriguez.

The payoffs to Alexis Rodriguez came in different forms, prosecutors said. Besides four payments totaling $22,000 in cash, Alex Rodriguez was given another $22,000 through tuition payments for his daughter, money alleged to be going to the purchase a truck for Artiles’ daughter and reimbursements. In total, the state said Alex Rodriguez collected $44,708.03 in cash and gifts.

Artiles was paid $90,000 by Data Targeting founder Patrick Bainter, who placed another $100,000 in a Political Action Committee associated with Artiles.

Senate seat unraveled quickly

Artiles served three terms in the Florida House before winning a Senate seat in 2016. His senate term unraveled quickly. He resigned less than a year after being elected and after using racial slurs and uttering profanities while talking to a group of Black elected leaders in Tallahassee.

Then, just over a year after Garcia’s unexpected 2020 victory, Artiles was charged with the four felonies. His convictions this week could land him in prison for as many as 15 years, though that long a term is unlikely. Alexis Rodriguez was charged with the same four felonies, but avoided conviction in exchange for his testimony against Artiles.

During the trial, defense attorney Jose Quiñon told jurors the plot to unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez began with a Republican senatorial committee, which then contacted Bainter. Bainter, looking for information on the ground, then reached out to some folks he knew in West Palm Beach, who recommended Artiles.

Aritles, who knew Alexis Rodriguez through a family member, promised him he would be coached and wouldn’t have to campaign.

Under Florida law, none of that is illegal. The exchange of money other than a single contribution of up to $1,000 to a candidate, however, is.

And Monday, on the verdict form, jurors wrote out exactly which acts they believe Artiles committed that were illegal. They listed six instances when the lobbyist gave Alexis Rodriguez money or gifts totaling $26,812.92. Among them were payments of $2,000 that Artiles gave Alexis Rodriguez to cover his registration fee to become a candidate, $6,784.39 that he spent covering tuition for Alexis Rodriguez’s daughter’s private high school, a $2,400 rent payment and $9,000 given to Alexis Rodriguez from Artiles’ brother-in-law.

During the trial, Alexis Rodriguez said the only reason he agreed to change his party affiliation and run in the race was because he was broke and just divorced. He told jurors he was ashamed and said the only reason he agreed to the plan was because he needed money.

Garcia, the unexpected victor, has always been controversial. She once said she believed people could outgrow being gay, but later apologized. She also authored a bill to spend $5 million on former President Donald Trump’s legal bills. The bill didn’t pass. Jose Javier Rodriguez now works as an assistant secretary for the Labor Department in Washington, D.C.

___

© 2024 Miami Herald

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.