Wells Fargo terminated the official campaign account of Florida Agricultural Commissioner candidate Nicole “Nikki” Fried after the banking giant discovered Fried has a “political platform ... advocating for expanded patient access to medical marijuana” and she had “funds received from lobbyists from the medical marijuana industry,” according to correspondence that was with Wells Fargo and was provided by the campaign.
The campaign received a letter on Aug. 3 that it had 30 days to close the campaign account, records show. Matt Gotha, a consultant for Fried’s campaign for agriculture commissioner, said they closed the account Saturday and transferred its approximately $137,000 to BB&T.
At a news conference in Tallahassee on Monday, Fried called the decision “totally unprecedented” and another example of “the failures of our laws, institutions, [and] politicians to respect patients and doctors [and] the will of the voters.”
Read more at our news partner, the Miami Herald.
