On Monday, a former Republican senator named Frank Artiles allegedly offered a ghost candidate who influenced a legislative campaign in the Miami area in 2020 $50,000 to run for government.
Under oath, the accused sham candidate, Alex Pedro Rodriguez, said that Artiles was the brains behind his “ghost campaign,” the goal was merely to cause havoc in the race rather than win. In the end, Republicans succeeded in moving a Democratic Senate seat to a Republican one.
“You claim that you were offered 50,000 by Mr. Artiles?” asked Frank Quintero, an attorney representing Artiles.
“Yes I was,” Rodriguez replied.
“To run as a candidate?” Quintero asked.
“Yes I was,” Rodriguez said.
With the same last name as the sitting Democratic senator, Jose Javier Rodriguez, the ghost candidate received almost 6,000 votes.
The current senator, Rodriguez, was defeated by Republican candidate Ileana Garcia in the election, losing by a margin of thirty-two votes.
Prosecutors claim Artiles committed other offences connected to elections and breaking campaign financing regulations. His attorney informed the jury that it is legal to support a phantom candidate.
Defence lawyers raised Artiles’s business dealings with the ghost candidate on Monday, but they refuted claims that payments were made to him in exchange for his senate candidatures.
“So because of your lies, Mr. Artiles is sitting in court fighting for his liberty, sir. Do you understand that? Does that bother you?” Quintero asked Rodriguez while on the stand.
Rodriguez is being portrayed by the defence team as a liar, dishonest, and untruthful individual. For instance, they displayed to the jurors a profile of Rodriguez’s Belen Jesuit Preparatory School alumni website, on which the guy falsely claimed to be a company owner and a college graduate.
Rodriguez claimed that to obtain any business at all, he had to lie.
Jurors will ultimately have to determine whether or not Artiles’ payment of Rodriguez violated any state election laws.
Rodriguez testified against Artiles in return for probation after entering a guilty plea.
On Tuesday, the trial will resume.
