ORLANDO, Fla. — Communications between former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles and roughly two dozen individuals and organizations, which were obtained by Miami prosecutors investigating an alleged vote-siphoning scheme in 2020′s state Senate races, will not be released publicly, a South Florida judge ruled Thursday.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan is also considering withholding from public disclosure a list of Artiles’ contacts that also was seized by prosecutors. Fajardo Orshan said she expected to issue a ruling on that matter within a week, weighing the privacy rights of Artiles’ personal and business contacts with the rights of reporters and others to have access to the records.
The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office has obtained a voluminous cache of records, including messages and contact names, from Artiles’ personal laptops, phones, tablets and other devices. Those records, which have been provided to Artiles’ defense attorneys, would typically become public, as state law requires in a criminal case.
