Former state Rep. Carolina Amesty made her first appearance in federal court on Tuesday alongside her attorney Brad Bondi, the brother of U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, to face two charges of stealing from the federal government’s COVID-19 relief funds.
The 30-year-old Windermere Republican was ordered by a judge in Orlando to surrender her passport and firearms and told her travel would be limited. She is now barred from going to Tallahassee, where she served two years in the Florida House, while her case plays out in court.
According to a criminal complaint filed last month, Amesty fraudulently obtained $122,000 in pandemic relief funds through a foundation named for herself and a car dealership that federal investigators claim was not licensed to operate.
She faces two counts of theft of government property, each of which carries a maximum of 10 years in federal prison.
Amesty was surrounded by more than a dozen friends and family members in the small courtroom.
Judge Robert M. Norway agreed to the defense’s request to postpone any preliminary hearing, in which prosecutors must prove probable cause for the case to continue, until April 21. The government was also granted a similar extension for a grand jury to come back with an indictment.
Norway said Amesty could travel outside the Middle District of Florida — which stretches from Jacksonville to Fort Myers and takes in Central Florida and Tampa Bay — to attend graduate school at the University of Miami and to visit Brad Bondi’s offices in Washington, D.C.
But he denied Amesty’s request to be able to visit Florida’s Northern District, which includes the state’s capital city.
“I’m a former state representative, and there are still matters I have to travel to Tallahassee for,” Amesty said.
“If you perchance need to go to Tallahassee, your attorney can file a motion for permission to do that,” Norway said.
Norway also ordered Amesty to surrender her passport and all firearms in her possession. He did, however, allow her fiance, a reserve sheriff’s deputy, to continue to possess his service pistol. The rest, including rifles, “have to go,” he said.
The federal charges are just the latest round of complaints against Amesty, who became a controversial figure during her campaign for the Legislature in 2022.
An Orlando Sentinel investigation last year revealed allegations of forgery tied to her family-run university, and she was charged in state court with four forgery-related felony charges.
Amesty narrowly lost her reelection bid in November, the only incumbent GOP legislator to lose amid a red wave in 2024.
The state case wrapped up in December when the charges were dismissed by outgoing Orange-Osceola State Attorney Andrew Bain, an appointee of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, upon her completion of community service and a financial crimes course.
Government ethics rules require Pam Bondi, who was confirmed to serve as U.S. attorney general on Feb. 5, to recuse herself from federal prosecutions in which her brother represents a party.
As attorney general, she supervises all federal prosecutors, including Florida’s middle district office that brought charges against Amesty.
Within hours of Amesty’s hearing in Orlando, the U.S. Justice Department announced that U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg, who revealed the Amesty prosecution last month, was out of the job.
“United States Attorneys serve at the pleasure of the President,” spokesperson William Daniels said.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara C. Sweeney will serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the district until a permanent one can be appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Orlando Sentinel staff writer Silas Morgan contributed to this report.
