Former Florida state Rep. Amesty in 'active discussions' to resolve criminal case

Skyler Swisher, Orlando Sentinel on Apr 16, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ORLANDO, Fla. — Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty is in talks with the U.S. Department of Justice to avoid going to trial in a criminal case accusing her of defrauding a government pandemic relief program, according to a court filing.

Amesty is represented by Brad Bondi, a high-powered litigator and the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Amesty is in “active discussions regarding the appropriate disposition of this matter,” according to a joint motion filed this week in federal court. The motion asks for more time “to attempt to resolve this matter prior to grand jury presentment, indictment, and/or trial.”

Amesty’s lawyer could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

Amesty, 30, is accused of fraudulently obtaining $122,000 in small business COVID-19 relief funds through a foundation named for herself and a car dealership that federal investigators don’t think was ever licensed to operate, according to a criminal complaint filed in January.

The FBI and other investigators concluded the federal money provided to the foundation and the business actually was used for Amesty’s personal expenses, including furniture and credit card bills. Some money also went to support Central Christian University — the private Christian college she helped run with her father — and Amesty’s now closed fast-food chicken restaurant, Pollo Juan, they said.

Once viewed as a rising star in the Florida GOP, the one-term former lawmaker from Windermere faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

In a Facebook post after her initial hearing in February, Amesty called the accusations “a clear religious prosecution and a further personal political attack against me,” claiming without offering specifics to have “clear exculpatory evidence showing my innocence.”

Her post included a letter from her attorney, who referred to Amesty as a “Christian youth pastor” and said the “eleventh-hour prosecution” under former President Joe Biden’s administration was “emblematic of the weaponization of the Department of Justice by the last administration.”

Within hours of Amesty’s hearing in Orlando, the U.S. Justice Department announced that U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg, who revealed the Amesty prosecution and was appointed during Biden’s tenure, was out of the job.

Gregory W. Kehoe, a Tampa defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, was selected to serve as an interim replacement.

Elected to the Florida House in 2022, Amesty narrowly lost her reelection bid in November to Democrat Leonard Spencer, a former Disney executive. She ran while facing state forgery charges that were dismissed by outgoing Orange-Osceola state attorney Andrew Bain, an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, upon her completion of community service and a financial crimes course.

Those state charges stemmed from allegations she improperly notarized a man’s signature on a licensing form for the small Orlando-area college run by her family.

------------