Atlantic City Mayor Gilliam in Court this Morning; to Plead Guilty

Long-embattled Mayor Frank Gilliam will be in federal court in Camden at 10 a.m. today, InsiderNJ has learned.

According to a tweet by Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Amy Rosenberg: “Atlantic City Mayor Frank Gilliam is being sworn in to plead guilty to a federal information, the judge says.”

A source said the case in question is wire fraud in connection with the charity the mayor was running.

Zdan tweet
Zdan tweet this morning

Two sources said they expect a guilt plea by the mayor but Gilliam was unable to confirm.

The Press of Atlantic City was in the courtroom.

According to the Atlantic County paper of record:

“Gilliam left his house at approximately 7:15 a.m. with family this morning. Gilliam did not answer questions from members of the press outside the house.”

FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Division agents executed a search warrant at Gilliam’s house last year, and left with cardboard boxes and computer equipment.

“I got a call this morning noting that this is Gilliam’s day in court,” a source told InsiderNJ.

The source expressed surprise that the IRS angle of the mayor’s investigation has taken this long.

Cape May Court earlier this year dismissed charges against the mayor in connection with his role in a fight outside an Atlantic City casino nightclub. Surveillance video in the vicinity of the Golden Nugget’s Haven Nightclub showed the mayor exchanging punches with a man, while Councilman Jeffree Fauntleroy II wrestled someone else to the ground.

Gilliam walked.

But the federal case has lingered ominously over the gaming mecca’s local politics.

In a celebrated 2018 piece for InsiderNJ, Power and Politics host Alex Zdan posed the following question:

“How did Gilliam, a man who 15 years ago was running a mobile auto detailing business and reporting  zero annual income, ascend to be the chief executive of New Jersey’s most troubled cash cow? How did a candidate publicly accused of domestic violence, who twice filed for bankruptcy, who once got in a fistfight with a pedestrian who walked too close to his car, a former Atlantic City councilman who stipulated in a state taxation document months after his election he actually lived 20 miles away, whose two terms on the council yielded few accomplishments save a helium balloon ban, become the Democrats’ standard bearer – and win?”

News 12’s Zdan had more on the case here.

And also this morning, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following on this case:

“The exact nature of the charges remains unclear but the sources, who were not authorized to publicly discuss the probe, said that the embattled mayor was scheduled to attend a hearing in federal court in Camden later this morning before U.S. District Judge Joseph Rodriguez.

“Gilliam arrived at the courthouse in Camden just before 10 a.m. accompanied by his wife and attorney, Harry Rimm. He was seen leaving his Atlantic City home three hours earlier, passport in hand.”

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