Gatorgate - Tidalgate - NoNoBallotgate: The Florida fraud trifecta that led DeSantis to gift Alligator Alcatraz to Trump
Karma's a Bitch in an Alligator Jumpsuit (Part I)
Florida’s Fraud Trifecta
There are three concurrently running RICO fraud schemes underway in Florida by the DeSantis administration in coordination with and for the personal benefit of Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis and his donor-contractors. Two are in what I call the “FEMA fraud lane” - Tidalgate and Gatorgate - with Gatorgate also occupying the adjacent “deportation fraud lane.” The third scheme, NoNoBallotgate, implicates DeSantis, Trump, Pam Bondi, and others, and it rolls red hot and alone in the “election fraud lane.” Together these three concurrently running and interlocking schemes form the tapestry of the textbook corrupt RICO enterprise - on a massive scale
Tidalgate and Gatorgate both involve ill-begotten, misused, or unlawfully diverted FEMA funds appropriated by Congress specifically for federal disaster relief and resilience. In the case of Gatorgate, FEMA funds have been seized and redirected by DeSantis to pay for construction and operation of the new DeSantis-Trump immigrant deportation gulag “Alligator Alcatraz”. Trump’s DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, as titular head of FEMA, approved rediretion of FEMA funds by DeSantis and his FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie, who is also the key pivot man in Gatorgate, and she wouldn’t have done so absent a Trump command.
A Tidalgate Primer
In the case of Tidalgate, a term I coined, here’s a primer. I first broke the story on the Tidalgate scandal at my media company The Crabber News on January 26, 2025, at a time I was running for Gulfport mayor (that’s me on stage above), starting with the first installment in what became a 5-part Tidalgate exposé series. TidalGate involves the DeSantis-donating FEMA contractor, The Tidal Basin Group, and their field hurricane damage inspectors, submitting thousands of knowingly fake substantial damage (over 50%) assessment claims on slightly damaged homes, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Helene and Milton here in Pinellas County - then, getting paid FEMA money based on contractually required certifications of data quality assurance and integrity.
The FEMA monies were funnelled through the FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie, who crammed Tidal Basin down the throats of our poor beach community governments struggling to handle the massive spike in inspector workloads and disaster recovery efforts. I know all about this one in detail because while running for Mayor I sat in the City Council meetings where I first heard the word Tidal Basin along with the cries of anguish from residents who were getting these fake letters from the city, indicating they had to either raze and re-build…or literally raise up their homes, or sell/abandon them. The fake data in those letters were generated by Tidal Basin - not City employees, who input the fake information into the FEMA calculator.
For the non-wealthy, it was devastating and thousands have lost their homes in Pinellas County as their market values were destroyed and they couldn’t afford to rebuild. Private equity-backed entities swooped in and have been gobbling up these properties at firesale prices and building million-dollar homes. To wit: Tidal Basin Group is own by the billion dollar private equity firm DC Capital Partners. And guess who donated $48K to Ron and Casey DeSantis’ Hope Florida Foundation charity: Tidal Basin. (Source: Tampa Bay Times).
For those wishing to do a deep dive on Tidalgate, here are the links to the 5 Crabber News articles.
“Disaster Recovery is the New Medicare in Florida - as a Tidal Wave of Fake Damage Claims Pounds Pinellas County Homeowner Recovery Time Objectives (RTO).”
“A Gulfport Call to Action on Tidal Basin Fake Damage Claims. A call to action for all citizens of Gulfport Victimized by Fake Claims of Substantial Damage by Tidal Basin
“The Tidal Basin Lawsuit is Coming: Gulfport Mayoral Candidate John Liccione Talks All Things Tidal Basin on Stage at The North End Taphouse
“Tidalgate: State Retaliates Against Redington Beach Over Tidal Basin Issue: State and county officials retaliate against Redington Beach Mayor and Town over complaints of grossly erroneous storm damage assessments filed by Tidal Basin Group
“Tidalgate: Tidal Basin’s State Contract Revealed: Tidal Basin's Florida Director Luke Strickland and the Revolving Door on Monroe Street in Tallahassee at the FDEM Under Kevin Guthrie, Ron DeSantis, and the Republican Supermajority”
NoNoBallotgate: The United States of America, ex rel. John Liccione v. VR Systems, DeSantis, et al. Lawsuit
I’ve been reporting on the NoNoBallotgate scandal (exposed in my lawsuit above) here on The Bleed for the first time this week. In the lawsuit I allege ill-begotten federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds were received by another DeSantis-favored contractor: VR Systems. Their Voter Focus, VR Tower, and EVID software and cloud services are used by 64 FL counties and the FL Division of Elections (and in GA, NC, TX, MD, DC, NY, VA, and other states). It’s used for voter registration, electronic pollbooks, vote-by-mail ballot order processing, publication of preliminary election results, and publication of what have now been proven to be fake voter mail ballot order transaction history reports to candidates like me and political organizations.
As I’ve already reported here on The Bleed, I’m the (pro se in need of a good lawyer) Plaintiff-Relator in this NoNoBallotGate $430M Qui Tam Whistleblower/RICO lawsuit against VR Systems, DeSantis, several of his Cabinet officers charged with overseeing elections, and others. And, similar to Tidalgate, we have knowingly fake data being published by a DeSantis-favored contractor and his Administration and county governments, while VR Systems file claims for HAVA grant payments based on implied certifications of system accuracy and integrity. Bondi and the DOJ’s silence has been defeaning - and that’s a feature, not a bug. You can read my previous post here for a deep dive on this entitled: “What Secrets are Hidden UNDER the Epstein Files on Bondi’s Desk?” Spoiler alert - that secret is Bondi-Trump’s catching and killing of my NoNoBallotgate lawsuit, which you can download in its entirety there.
Do you see the emerging pattern here?
By the way, if any of you readers know a good law firm or attorney that might be willing to take on my case, let me know at: jliccione@gmail.com.
COMMENTARY AND NEXT UP IN PART II
In Part II I’ll go to the very heart of the matter involving these three fraud, waste, and abuse DOGE-ian scandals, and I’ll answer these critical questions:
Why would Ron DeSantis offer up Alligator Alcatraz to Trump, now in particular, and why in turn did Trump order Kristi Noem to authorize diversion of FEMA disaster recovery funds by DeSantis and FDEM Director Kevin Guthrie to pay for it?
To put Gatorgate in perspective. DeSantis sending his operatives to Texas in 2022 to fraudulently induce migrants to get on a plane and fly them to Martha’s Vineyard Island to dump them off at the airport without local advance notice or support? That’s inhumane and illegal, to a certain degree, but at its heart, it was just political theater pulled off in the run-up to DeSantis’ Trump primary challenge. Martha’s Vineyard and the State of Massachusetts stepped in as they should have to help the victims.
But this? Who is going to step in to protect the migrants housed in Alligator Alcatraz cages and treated like vermin before deportation to a foreign prison in countries run by dictators and warlords? This inhumane immigrant gulag in the middle of alligator infested swamp? IN AMERICA? This is an abomination, a stain on America’s soul. Trump and DeSantis are spitting in the face of Lady Liberty. It is Putin and Kim Jung Un-level cruelty and torture pitched as a societal virtue as red meat to the extreme wing of the MAGA base. Alligator Alcatraz must be shut down, razed, the DeSantis contracts terminated, and the land returned to Miami-Dade County and mother nature.
So, what leverage does Trump have on DeSantis so extreme that would lead him to join Trump on his journey down the road to alligator perdition?
One might say: When you live by the alligator, you die by the alligator….at least a politician’s career, or freedom, might die thusly.
But I will say this: While America boils and distracts over Bondi-Trump Epstein concealment, karma is a bitch in an alligator jumpsuit.
Liccione out.