Florida politicians who received donations from alleged Allied Veterans leader Kelly Mathis include (from left) Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, and state Rep. Charles McBurney.
By Steve Miller
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Called “the crack cocaine of gambling” by state Rep. Scott Plakon 18 months ago, Internet gambling cafes are front and center after Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigned amidst revelations of her links to a federal investigation of a veteran’s group for which she once consulted.
Kelly Mathis was the alleged mastermind of the Allied Veterans of the World scam.
The state Senate is reportedly headed toward a ban on the establishments, and a state House panel last week passed a measure prohibiting them.
The feds allege the nonprofit Allied Veterans of the World and associated operations collected almost $300 million from illegal gambling operations at 49 Internet cafes in Florida and handed over a measly $6 million to veterans groups.
The Republican Party of Florida promised to give donations it has received from the accused veteran’s group to the Florida Veteran Foundation.
But what about those political donations from Kelly Mathis? He’s the alleged mastermind of the scheme that feds claim had the St. Augustine-based Allied Veterans raking in millions of dollars. The premise was the dough would go to charity and the nonprofit veterans group. But authorities claim it went to for-profit companies and some of the people who run Allied. Mathis has posted bail and maintains his innocence.
Mathis, a Jacksonville, lawyer, has donated to a number of political campaigns and committees over the years. Will the recipients of his donations be returning the cash?
Among them:
- Dave Aronberg, elected Palm Beach County State Attorney in November, who received two donations of $100 from Mathis last year.
- State Rep. Charles McBurney took a $100 donation from Mathis in October 2009 and another $250 in 2010.
- Also in 2010, the Republican Party of Florida took $1,995 from Mathis.
- The campaign of Frank Bruno, who lost in a bid for state senate last fall, received a $250 from Mathis last March.
- Scott Maddox, Tallahassee city commissioner, was running for state agriculture commissioner in 2010 when he received a $250 donation from Mathis.
None of the recipients returned calls and/or emails from the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting regarding their connection to Mathis.
Yesterday, state Republican Rep. Steve Crisafulli sent a note to his party colleagues beseeching them to return any donations received from Allied and its connected affiliates. He thoughtfully sent a list of these groups along, just in case they missed some. Mathis is on there, as are Aamir and Tariq Waheed, two other alleged conspirators. The rest of those on the list of 57 suspects are not.
State records show Mathis is the registered agent for a number of operations both existing and inactive, including a number of branches of the Allied Veterans of the World, several Internet cafes, and his law practice. Some of the registered companies have out-of-state addresses, including in South Carolina and North Carolina.
Mathis was listed as an attorney defending suspects in an Internet gambling case in Texas in 2009, in which a Florida man, Daniel Patrick Davis, was sentenced to a year in federal prison. Mathis was serving pro hac vice, meaning he was not licensed to practice in that jurisdiction but was permitted to be part of the defense of a suspect. Davis’ case was partially reversed last year.