Politics

Wearing a blue suit, striped tie and glasses, Frank Artiles sits behind the counsel table, looking straight ahead with mute expression on his face.

Former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles listens to testimony at his Miami trial on Friday, September 27.Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/ZUMA Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

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Former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles was convicted by a Miami-Dade Circuit Court jury Monday evening, the latest fallout from the state’s 2020 “ghost candidates” scandal.

Artiles was convicted on three felony counts related to $44,000 in payments he made to Alex Rodriguez, a no-party candidate whose role was to siphon votes from Sen. Jose Javier Rodriguez, the Democratic incumbent. The six-member jury deliberated for seven hours before reaching its verdict. Artiles was acquitted on a fourth count of aiding and abetting a false voter registration. Artiles sat stone-faced as the guilty verdicts were read.

“They won. They were successful. They beat JJR,” public corruption prosecutor Tim VanderGiesen said in his opening argument. “They beat the incumbent named Rodriguez.”