Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa faces one count of grand theft and one count of organized scheme to defraud. State investigators allege that three businesses connected to Espinosa and family members received a combined $50,000 from the city’s Business Boost 2.0 grant program. The charges are allegations, and nothing in the case has been tested in court.
The program
The city launched Business Boost 2.0 in September 2025 to give financial help to small businesses hurt by the pandemic. According to the city’s website, applicants must have fewer than 500 employees and show COVID-19-related financial hardship. Applications are currently paused because of high demand.
A recipient’s view
Two days after the mayor’s arrest, some local business owners were weighing in. Luz Diaz, who owns Blooming Nails in Kissimmee, applied last year, and the city approved her and awarded a $10,000 grant within about two weeks. “It was helpful to me,” she said through a translator. “I was able to pay for things that I had pending to pay for. I was able to anticipate things that I had in mind to do in the business.”
The allegations surprised and saddened her. “I didn’t think this was going to happen here,” Diaz said. She also worries about what it does to the city’s image, particularly among Latinos. “I am very embarrassed for what is happening because our city has been hit several times,” she said. “And that affects the Latino community a lot, because they see us in a way that they shouldn’t see us.”
The figure that matters is $50,000, the amount investigators say reached the three connected businesses.
Sources
- Kissimmee mayor Jackie Espinosa charged with theft and fraud over city grants
- Fraud
- Trump DOJ makes shocking admissions; taken to task for latest allegations of voter fraud | Governor of California
Photo: Connor J. Williams (CC BY 3.0)
