Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Integrity Project, an organization focused on exposing members’ self-enriching actions, is calling out U.S. Senator Rick Scott’s long history of corruption and self-dealing. The report, Part Two of the “Covering for Corruption Series,” details how Scott has made a career out of padding his wallet while claiming to work for the public.
“We all know that Rick Scott’s role in profiting off of one of the largest health care fraud cases in the country, but unfortunately, his corruption didn’t stop there,” said Kyle Herrig, executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project. “In Tallahassee and Washington, Scott has systematically used his position to enrich himself, his wife, daughter, and other family members – all at the expense of the people he is supposed to be serving.”
Since arriving in Washington in 2019, Rick Scott has served on the powerful Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, where he has prioritized baseless, partisan investigations instead of fulfilling his constitutional oversight duties. He has turned a blind eye to the Trump Administration’s failed response to the pandemic and the dismantling of the Post Office to push through laws that benefit the super-wealthy or his political allies.
Now, as our economy continues to spiral and Florida’s Covid-19 cases and deaths rise again, the only numbers Sen. Rick Scott seems to care about are: his bank account and doing Trump’s political bidding. During his short time in office, he has grown his ill-gotten fortune by more than $55 million and has championed politically motivated investigations of Trump’s rivals over performing his constitutionally mandated oversight responsibilities.
The Congressional Integrity Project’s latest report on Rick Scott chronicles several instances of corruption, including:
- As Governor and now as Senator, Scott has broken his promise to put his assets in a blind trust. New financial disclosures show that Scott’s net worth increased by at least $55,677,932, or 33.4 percent, over his first year as a Senator.
- Right after Rick Scott’s first gubernatorial campaign, Harris Media, a Texas-based firm that Scott’s campaign paid over $500,000, hired his daughter Allison Guimard as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. Guimard helped open a Tallahassee office for the firm and used her maiden name to “drum up” business.
- Scott built his wealth on the foundation of historic fraud by the health care company he led. Under Scott’s leadership, the company perpetrated what the U.S. Department of Justice called “the largest health care fraud in U.S. history.”
- As governor of Florida, Scott championed a massive natural gas pipeline, and other various projects requiring state approval, that likely boosted his family’s personal wealth — even encouraging a Chinese firm to open up a new solar facility in Jacksonville.
We can’t force Scott to act with integrity. But we can expose his record and call out his actions to stop him from misleading and manipulating voters.
For more information on our work visit: www.CongressionalIntegrity.org. For the latest updates, follow @USIntegrityProj on Twitter.
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