The Devout Christian Behind Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law Is Going To Prison For Defrauding The Government
On Thursday, October 19, former Florida lawmaker Joe Harding was sentenced to four months in prison on the charges of wire fraud, money laundering and providing false statements.
Harding was one of the legislators responsible for sponsoring the now-notorious Florida law known as the Don’t Say Gay law. A federal court heard the former politician pleaded guilty to three of the six total counts in March after coming to a plea agreement.
Some Say The Lord Works In Mysterious Ways…
Harding built his political platform on being a Christian father and husband with strong religious values. It was discovered that in 2020, Harding applied for Covid-19 relief payments from the Small Business Administration despite these businesses not being operational in 2019 or in 2020. The amount that Harding had attempted to obtain fraudulently amounts to USD150,000.
Harding’s lawyer, John Lauro, claims that all the money that he received through the relief fund were paid back in full and that this was done so prior to charges being laid.
According to Harding’s lawyer, earlier this year he aided in the investigation against his brother-in-law, 42-year-old Patrick Parker Walsh. Parker Walsh was also charged with pandemic relief fraud and was sentenced to more than five years prison.
