Maxwell: Will Florida's new U.S. Attorney target corruption?

Yahoo

28-05-2025

After covering politics in Florida for more than a quarter century, I've concluded that one of the biggest problems is corruption.
Not just that it takes place — and boy, does it — but that so many of this state's prosecutors and law-enforcement agencies seem totally disinterested in curbing it.
Some are lazy. Some are complicit. Some prefer to make big shows about arresting low-level offenders over doing the hard and feather-ruffling work required to go after the politically connected. Whatever the reason, very few Florida prosecutors have made targeting corruption a top priority.
If you want proof, I have two words for you: Joel Greenberg.
The guy was a one-man wrecking ball to the public trust and coffers. Yet it wasn't Florida investigators who were hot on Greenberg's trail. It was the Orlando Sentinel.
This newspaper wrote story after story about the former tax collector abusing his position, handing out bogus contracts to politically connected cronies and even paying three of his former groomsmen more than $600,000.
And do you know what state prosecutors did about all this? Nothing.
It wasn't until the feds swooped in that Greenberg was held to account, ultimately pleading guilty to six felonies that netted him an 11-year prison sentence.
That's why federal prosecutors are important. That's also why I was particularly interested in the story in Wednesday's newspaper about the new U.S. Attorney for Florida's Middle District — the guy who replaced the former federal prosecutor who went after Greenberg. I wanted to know what crimes he plans on prosecuting.
Greg Kehoe's top priority, as listed in the piece from the Tampa Bay Times, were immigration crimes. He also cited fraud. Nowhere was the word 'corruption' even mentioned.
Greg Kehoe outlines priorities as new Orlando-area U.S. attorney
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean Kehoe plans on giving corrupt pols a pass. I emailed him Tuesday to ask him if corruption was also one of his priorities. He didn't immediately respond. But we should find out soon enough. Hardly a month goes by without some public official in Florida doing something that merits probing.
And Kehoe already has a test case on his hands with former State Rep. Carolina Amesty, whom the feds have accused of fraudulently obtaining money meant for COVID relief and using it for personal expenses.
Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty charged with stealing COVID-19 relief funds
Kehoe actually made a point of citing pandemic-relief fraud cases as a priority. That's encouraging, since prosecutors are often as soft on white-collar, financial crimes as they are corruption. A street urchin caught stealing a TV gets the book thrown at him while a hospital exec caught stealing millions of tax dollars gets a deal. And maybe elected governor.
Kehoe told the Times: 'White-collar fraud is extremely important because, frankly, it damages the fabric of society …'
Amen. But Kehoe may face some serious pressure on the Amesty case, since the former GOP legislator hired Brad Bondi — the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi — as her attorney. And Pam Bondi is the one who gave Kehoe his new job.
In fact, the Justice Department announced that the Middle District's former prosecutor — Roger Handberg, who oversaw the cases against both Amesty and Greenberg — was out of his job the same day Amesty appeared in court.
Former Rep. Amesty retains well-connected lawyer: Trump AG-pick Pam Bondi's brother
Now, I'd like to believe that Pam Bondi will follow every ethical letter of the law. But I'd also like to believe that my abs will get ripped by eating bacon burgers and buffalo wings.
Bondi's track record as Florida's AG was well-documented. Most notably, she was caught cashing a $25,000 campaign check from Donald Trump's foundation just three days after her office said it was reviewing complaints from Floridians who said they'd been fleeced by a Trump money-making venture.
No prosecutor who even cared about the appearance of impropriety would accept money from someone they'd been asked to probe.
Kehoe says he and Bondi are old friends, which is how he got the job.
I had a front-row seat to Pam Bondi's messy stint as attorney general | Commentary
Kehoe, 70, is a former federal and international prosecutor who went after everyone from outlaw bikers to war criminals. He's also a former defense attorney, who defended everyone from corrupt politicians to accused war criminals.
One of his former clients was a Croatian general who was convicted of crimes against humanity but then had those convictions overturned on appeal. Another was former Democratic Congresswoman Corrine Brown who was convicted on 18 fraud charges before those charges were overturned and she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
I don't know the Croatian war general. But I read every word of the lengthy federal case against Corrine Brown, and her actions stunk.
Maxwell: Corrine Brown delivered … to herself, feds say
You can't always judge attorneys by their clients. And Kehoe claims to want this new job prosecuting crimes across the Middle District that covers 35 counties from Northeast to Southwest Florida because he believes in 'the greater good.'
Well, a big part of that is going after the bad guys, even when they're wealthy, powerful or politically connected.
Sometimes there are jurisdictional issues. State crimes should obviously be pursued by state officials while federal ones should be pursued by federal ones. But sometimes, it's just a matter of which prosecutor cares. And too often in Florida, no prosecutors have.
And there's plenty of shady behavior at state and local agencies where federal money is involved. The Hope Florida scandal involves Medicaid money, for instance. And a new scandal seems to pop up at Orlando's federally funded airport every few years.
Readers often ask why Florida seems to have a disproportionate number of politicians doing shady things. And I usually respond: Partly because there aren't many prosecutors in this state who do much to stop it.
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Joel Greenberg's prosecutor gets a promotion. Great. Let's prosecute some more | Commentary