Miami
Anna Paulina Luna sends cease-and-desist letter to Leela Gray over insider trading claim
The Republican lawmaker demanded that her Democratic challenger pull a campaign ad and stop repeating similar accusations. Florida Politics reported that Gray’s campaign said it was preparing a response.
U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Democratic challenger Leela Gray over campaign statements that Luna’s legal team says are false and potentially defamatory, according to Florida Politics.
The demand came two days after Gray aired a television ad alleging that Luna was providing insider information to a donor. In the letter, attorneys Charles R. Spies and Dahlyn L. Sugrue argue that the ad is not supported by the source it cites and materially alters that source to build the accusation.
Luna’s lawyers also challenged social media posts and broadcast interviews in which, they said, Gray claimed the congresswoman got rich while in office and trades stocks. Florida Politics reported that the letter says those assertions are contradicted by Luna’s public financial disclosures and demands an immediate halt to the ad and any similar claims.
Gray’s campaign did not immediately comment, though a spokesperson said it was working on a reply, according to the outlet.
Florida Politics said Luna’s latest financial disclosures show that she owns no stocks.
Gray’s ad cites a Tampa Bay Times article that said Luna may have helped an influencer make a bet. That story, in turn, cited reporting by The Wall Street Journal saying Luna may have told social media influencer Rogan O’Handley, known online as DC Draino, that she expected Donald Trump to pick JD Vance as his running mate, and that O’Handley may have made money from that information on prediction markets.
After that report, the Justice Department made clear it had never opened an investigation into Luna, Florida Politics reported.
In the letter, Luna’s attorneys say she did not share material nonpublic information with O’Handley or anyone else and did not facilitate any wager on Polymarket or another prediction market. They also say both Luna and O’Handley have denied the allegation publicly from the outset.
The lawyers further argued that Gray’s accusations may meet the standard for defamation because, in their view, they falsely accuse a sitting member of Congress of a serious federal crime involving insider trading.
Sources
About this piece. Written by El Notero with AI assistance, from reporting published by the outlet cited above. El Notero did no original reporting on this story.
