GOP fundraiser Alan Mendelsohn pleads guilty to scheme

A prominent Broward County ophthalmologist who raised millions for Republicans and once advised Gov. Charlie Crist pleaded guilty Thursday to scheming to bilk the U.S. government -- including failing to report $82,000 in political donations secretly given to a former state senator.

Dr. Alan Mendelsohn, 52, pleaded in Fort Lauderdale federal court to a single conspiracy charge, which also accused him of lying to federal agents. He is eligible to receive about two years in prison under sentencing guidelines, but his lawyers plan to seek significantly less punishment from U.S. District Judge William Zloch.

Zloch set Mendelsohn's sentencing for Feb. 17.

The Mendelsohn case was among a string of corruption investigations stretching from South Florida to Tallahassee in recent years.

Although the ex-senator is not identified in Mendelsohn's plea agreement, he told the judge that Mandy Dawson, a Broward Democrat, received the secret political donations. Mendelsohn said that Dawson approached him and a Tallahassee lobbyist to hire her aide, Venica Blakely, to work for their political action committees.

``She made this request repeatedly,'' said Mendelsohn, noting that he and the lobbyist hired Blakely because they were concerned Dawson would retaliate by not supporting legislation for the medical profession. He told the judge that he and the lobbyist, Stephen D. Hull, knew that Blakely ``was passing some or all of the money to Sen. Dawson'' between 2003 and 2005.

Zloch asked Mendelsohn if this practice applied to other state legislators -- that otherwise ``they won't give you the time of day'' in Tallahassee. ``Absolutely,'' Mendelsohn said. ``In stronger words, you're toast.''

Zloch expressed disgust over the notion of pay-to-play politics, saying: ``This is a pretty sorry state of affairs with regards to what goes on in the statehouse.''

Dawson, 54, has not been charged in the Justice Department's four-year corruption investigation into Mendelsohn and state officials.

Dawson could not be reached for comment. Her mother, who lives in Daytona Beach, said she had not heard from her daughter in a while.

Blakely's attorney, Michael Doddo, would only say that ``justice has prevailed in this case.''

Mendelsohn, initially indicted in September 2009 on dozens of fraud charges, was facing trial in January. He admitted failing to report $700,770 in income diverted from three political action committees, according to court documents filed with his plea agreement. This month, he had to pay the IRS back taxes of $196,215 from 2003-06.

Mendelsohn used some of the political proceeds for his children's private high school education, SAT tutoring, a luxury car, home renovations, a mistress and other personal expenses, according to court records.

Mendelsohn had to sell his Hollywood medical practice, Eye Surgeons & Consultants, to help pay those taxes. He will be able to keep his medical license because his conviction is not related to his profession, and he plans to continue practicing in Broward, according to his attorneys Alvin Entin and John Keker.

Mendelsohn's fall is one of the stranger tales in Tallahassee history: He boasted of his close ties to Crist, whose transition team he served on in 2006. He also bragged about his connections to other GOP players, to dupe contributors into donating millions of dollars for campaigns, lobbying and other political activities, according to prosecutors.

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