Fundraising controversies
Beginning in 2010, Bondi's association with
Scientology and the multiple fundraisers that wealthy Scientologists have organized for Bondi's political campaigns have provoked controversy.
[21] Bondi has justified those contacts and her speeches before leading Scientologists by arguing that the group wishes to help her crack down on
human trafficking.
[22][23]
In 2011, Bondi also pressured two attorneys to resign who were investigating
Lender Processing Services, a
financial services company now known as
Black Knight, following the
robosigning scandal, as part of their work for Florida's Economic Crime Division. After the resignations, Bondi received campaign contributions from Lender Processing Services, though she denied any
quid pro quo.
[24]
In 2013, Bondi persuaded Governor
Rick Scott to postpone a scheduled
execution because it conflicted with a fundraising event.
[25] After questions were raised in the media, Bondi apologized for moving the execution date.
[26][27]
Trump donation to Bondi PAC
In 2013, Bondi also received criticism following a campaign donation from
Donald Trump.
[28] Prior to the donation, Bondi had received at least 22 fraud complaints regarding
Trump University. A spokesperson for Bondi announced that her office was considering joining a lawsuit initiated by
Eric Schneiderman, the
Attorney General of New York, regarding
tax fraud potential charges against Trump.
[29][30] Four days later, however, a
political action committee established by Bondi to support her re-election, And Justice for All, received a $25,000 donation from the
Donald J. Trump Foundation, after which Bondi declined to join the lawsuit against Trump University. Both Bondi and Trump defended the propriety of the nonprofit foundation's political donation.
[31][32]
In 2016, after
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the
Internal Revenue Service regarding the 2013 Trump donation, the Trump Foundation stated that the donation had been made in error. It said that the Foundation had intended for the donation to go not to Bondi's PAC, but instead to an unrelated
Kansas non-profit called Justice for All.
[33][34] However, in June 2016, as Bondi was facing renewed criticism over the Trump donation and her decision not to join the lawsuit, her spokesman said that Bondi had solicited the donation directly from Trump several weeks before her office announced it was considering joining the lawsuit against him.
[30][35] On March 14, 2016, Bondi endorsed Trump in the
2016 Florida Republican presidential primary, saying she had been friends with Trump for many years.
[36][37] In June 2016, a spokesperson for Governor
Rick Scott stated that the state's ethics commission was looking into the matter, though nothing further came from the investigation.
[38]
In September 2016, the IRS determined that the donation to Bondi's PAC violated laws against political contributions from nonprofit organizations, and ordered Trump to pay a fine for the contribution. Trump also was required to reimburse the foundation for the sum that had been donated to Bondi.
[39] Neither Bondi nor her PAC were fined or criminally charged. In November 2019, Trump was ordered by a
New York state court to close down the foundation and pay $2 million in damages for misusing it, including the illegal donation to Bondi.
[40]
In 2021,
The Daily Beast reported that it obtained records relating to Trump's illegal donation to Bondi, which show that Trump's organization knew that the money was being given to a PAC in Florida rather than a Kansas non-profit. The records include an email in August 2013 from Bondi's campaign finance director Deborah Ramsey Aleksander to Trump's executive assistant, Rhona Graff, identifying the PAC as an Electioneering Communications Organization and thanking Graff for meeting with her, for the promised $25,000 donation, and "for always being so responsive and wonderful to work with". A spokesperson for
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington called these documents "a smoking gun" that destroys the story that Trump and Bondi had concocted to excuse the donation.
[41]
Personal life
Bondi married Garret Barnes in 1990; the couple divorced after 22 months of marriage. In 1996, Bondi married Scott Fitzgerald; they divorced in 2002. She was engaged to Greg Henderson in 2012.
[63]
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