Chairman of the Leon County GOP, Evan Power, filed an ethics complaint at the end of last week against Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried. He claimed the violation stems from her failing to disclose more than $400,000 in income on official financial disclosure forms, which she quickly amended just before her official gubernatorial campaign launch on June 1.
One of the sources of her income increase is from Ignite Florida, a consulting firm where she is sole proprietor and lobbies the marijuana industry. Specifically, she amended a 2018 financial statement on May 28 indicating she received $351,480 from the firm. Previously, she had to amend the same 2018 statements on January 30, 2020 saying she received $72,000 in 2018 income.
She also neglected to disclose over $280,000 in income from San Felasco Nurseries, a medical marijuana company where Fried has deep financial stake which was bought out in 2018 by Harvest Health and Recreation Inc. for $65 million, another medical marijuana company where she has financial ties.
Fried has also acquired a home from her fiancé, Jake Bergmann. Bergmann also has had financial stake in Florida’s medical cannabis industry for years, like founding and serving as CEO of Surterra Wellness. Fried’s home from Bergmann totals in value of over $700,000, which Fried would be required by Florida ethics law to disclose as a “gift,” which she has yet to do.
“If this was a ‘gift’ from a non-family member and was permissible, it would be required to be reported on a FORM 9, quarterly gift disclosure, and it was not,” the complaint says.
Fried responded by calling out Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans for allegedly taking “dark money” and working with the DeSantis administration:
“Florida’s Republican leaders are terrified of me because they know I will beat Ron DeSantis. Less than twenty-four hours after DeSantis was caught taking a likely-illegal $100,000 dark money contribution from a shadow donor, his administration is in chaos and coordinating with the partisan Republican Party of Florida’s Chair to create a distraction, launching a witch hunt against me and my former company. Unlike their dear leader, I’ve disclosed and have been transparent about all of my finances, including past mistakes when filing forms before announcing for office. Humility and transparency just aren’t in their vocabulary.”
However, the complaint points out Fried’s net worth increased from around $270,000 in Jun. 2018 to nearly $1.5 million in Dec. 2019, and critics are asking why she withheld the financial information and how it increased exponentially during her time as agriculture commissioner.
Florida Sen. Joe Gruters (R-23) called on the Florida Legislature to investigate Fried’s potential ethical violations.
“As a statewide elected officer, Commissioner Fried is required by the Florida Constitution to annually file a full and public disclosure of her financial interests,” Gruters wrote. “Based on the amendments filed, she initially failed to fully and accurately disclose the full extent of her financial interests.”
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at the Florida Capital Star and the Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Nikki Fried” by Nikki Fried.
