The ghost candidate at the center of former Florida state Sen. Frank Artiles’ election-conspiracy trial said on the witness stand Friday that the more than 6,000 votes that were cast for him and likely tilted a razor-thin election to a Republican candidate were won dishonestly and he did it for the money.

The trial has begun for a former Florida state senator accused of violating state election laws related to his alleged support of a bogus candidate in a Miami-area legislative race back in 2020.

The so-called “ghost candidate” trial got underway Tuesday. At the center of it is former State Sen. Frank Artiles, R-Miami-Dade, who is accused of masterminding a scheme to sway a 2020 race.

Artiles faces multiple charges related to the alleged scheme in which he paid a friend, Alexis "Alex" Rodriguez, to run as a no-party candidate in the 2020 Senate District 37 race against Democrat candidate Jose Javier Rodríguez.

The central Florida district was then carpeted with misleading mailers that appealed to liberal values and voters’ distaste for partisan politics—one included a stock photo that seemed to imply If she siphoned off votes from his Democratic rival,

While on the witness stand, during the Miami-Dade County trial against former Florida Sen. Frank Artiles, Alex Rodríguez admitted to being a sham candidate for the Florida Legislature in exchange for $50,

Former Miami-Dade State Senator Frank Artiles faces up to 20 years in prison for violation state elections laws.