State Rep. Fabian Basabe is found liable by jury in sexual harassment case

A jury found Florida Rep. Fabian Basabe liable Wednesday in a Tallahassee civil trial accusing him of sexual harassment, battery and defamation.

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An attorney for the plaintiffs told the Miami Herald after the verdict was read that the total amount the jury awarded in damages was $450,000.

The case involved allegations by a former legislative aide and a former intern for Basabe, a Miami Beach Republican.

“They have been vindicated,” Cynthia Myers, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Herald. “This is what happens when things are fair and when justice is allowed to take its course.”

Basabe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The jury in Leon County Circuit Court sat through three days of arguments and witness testimony this week that was consistently interrupted by chaos and controversy stemming from Basabe’s decision to represent himself without an attorney.

During closing arguments Wednesday, Judge J. Lee Marsh seemed prepared to take the extreme step of effectively rendering Basabe liable in the case after he repeatedly violated court orders about what could and could not be mentioned in front of the jury.

Had Marsh taken that step — known in legal parlance as striking Basabe’s affirmative defenses — the jury would have only had to determine monetary damages against Basabe on each count, skipping the step of deciding whether to hold Basabe liable.

Instead, Marsh let Basabe complete his closing arguments before sending the jury off to deliberate. The judge acknowledged it was a “tough decision,” saying that, if an attorney had done what Basabe did in the courtroom, Marsh likely would have referred him to the Florida Bar for sanctions.

“I’m concerned this process has been so tainted that they’re unable to make an informed, intelligent decision under the rules of evidence and procedure,” Marsh said.

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Basabe, a former reality TV personality and socialite who was first elected to the Florida House in 2022, appeared flustered.

“I’m kind of freaking out right now,” Basabe told the judge, asking for a brief recess.

When he returned, Basabe struck a conciliatory tone, depicting his violations as “good-faith mistakes by a self-represented litigant trying to navigate the rules that attorneys spend years learning.”

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Basabe told Marsh that, during the recess, he ran a draft of his closing argument “through two different programs” to make it shorter and compliant with the judge’s orders.

Basabe subsequently told the jury he “had no idea how difficult” it would be to represent himself at trial.

“Thank you for your patience,” he concluded. “I’m putting my life in your hands.”

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Basabe’s former aide, Nicolas Frevola, testified that Basabe slapped him in the face and told him to stand in a corner at a private event in January 2023, and that Basabe slapped his butt without his consent a month prior.

A former intern for Basabe, Jacob Cutbirth, accused Basabe of trying to kiss him and touch him inappropriately and of making unwelcome sexual comments.

Frevola and his mother, Janette, also alleged that Basabe defamed them in a statement he posted on Twitter after an investigation into the 2023 incident commissioned by the Florida House came back with a finding of “inconclusive.”

Frevola and Cutbirth testified that Basabe’s behavior took a big emotional toll and changed the trajectory of their careers, steering them away from politics.

Basabe, 48, fumbled his way through the trial, often seeming confused about the legal proceedings.

At one point Wednesday, after the plaintiffs’ lawyer talked about her request to strike Basabe’s affirmative defenses, Basabe told the judge: “Your honor, I don’t even know what she just said, so if I’m allowed to or supposed to, I’d like to object to whatever that is and have time to figure out what that is so I can respond.”

On numerous occasions, an attorney for the plaintiffs cut Basabe off while he questioned witnesses or addressed the jury because he raised issues that the judge had deemed off limits before the trial began.

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This is a breaking news story and will be updated.