<\/p>\n
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, right, speaks alongside federal and state law enforcement officials during a press conference at the FDLE Miami Regional Operations Center announcing a new unit focused on investigating public corruption and government spending on Thursday, Feb. 19.<\/p>\n
Carl Juste<\/p>\n
cjuste@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n
Reality Check<\/a> is a Herald series holding those in power to account and shining a light on their decisions. Have a suggestion for a future story? Email our journalists at tips@miamiherald.com.<\/a><\/p>\n Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier picked a politically connected law firm to represent the state in a lawsuit against tech firm Roku over a competing proposal that would have likely saved the state hundreds of thousands of dollars should it win or convince Roku to settle.<\/p>\n The chosen firm\u2019s principal, securities lawyer Thomas Grady of Naples, is a former appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis and an Uthmeier campaign supporter. He served as a GOP state representative from 2008 to 2010 and as commissioner of the Florida Office of Financial Regulation for two years after that.<\/p>\n The suit against Roku is the first major enforcement action under Florida\u2019s new data protection laws that came into effect on July 1, 2024, and comes amid an aggressive posture by the state against major tech companies.<\/p>\n Uthmeier, whom DeSantis appointed attorney general last year, has also launched a criminal probe<\/a> against ChatGPT and its parent, OpenAI, and sued social media company Snapchat<\/a> and gaming platform Roblox.<\/a><\/p>\n The Attorney General\u2019s Office declined to discuss how it came to choose Grady\u2019s firm. Jeremy Redfern, the top aide to Uthmeier, instead called the Miami Herald\u2019s reporting \u201cnothing more than a political hit job\u201d and accused the paper of being \u201cleft-wing communist.\u201d<\/p>\n Grady said in a statement to the Herald that his proposal was submitted in complete accordance with state laws.<\/p>\n Roku did not respond to the Herald\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n David vs. Grady<\/p>\n Florida alleged in a civil enforcement action filed in Collier County in October last year that content platform Roku collected and sold children\u2019s personal data, including viewing habits and recordings of their voices, without obtaining parental consent. The tech firm\u2019s business practices, the state alleges, violated Florida\u2019s Digital Bill of Rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n Roku also allegedly partners with third-party brokers to provide its advertisers access to sensitive data such as ethnicity and date of birth of users, including children. Florida asked the court to impose a $150,000 fine on Roku for each known violation.<\/p>\n Uthmeier determined that the state needed outside counsel and put out a call soliciting proposals<\/a> last summer.<\/p>\n His office received two responses \u2014 one from Israel David, LLC and another from Grady Law, records show.<\/p>\n Israel David, LLC, named after its founding partner, has offices in New York and Boston but noted in its proposal that it has litigated cases across the country and has strong relationships with Florida attorneys who could serve as local counsel.<\/p>\n Its proposal described the credentials of the attorneys who would represent Florida and listed the firm\u2019s past experience in fighting cases related to online privacy, noting its founder\u2019s role in class-action cases against corporate giants like Twitter (now called X), TikTok, Apple and Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n Grady Law touted Grady\u2019s political experience as state representative, Florida\u2019s commissioner of financial regulation and chairman of the Florida State Board of Education.<\/p>\n \u201cWith that comprehensive Florida background, Tom brings genuinely unique insight into the enforcement of Florida\u2019s consumer protection and privacy laws,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n Where David had three New York attorneys as his references, Grady listed retired Florida Circuit Court Judge Hugh D. Hayes; John Rood, who had served as the under secretary of defense for policy in the first Trump administration; and the president of the New College of Florida and former state House speaker, Richard Corcoran.<\/p>\n David and his firm proposed a contingency fee structure on a sliding scale, starting at one-fifth of any recovery up to $15 million. The higher the amount recovered, the lower the percentage his firm would have made on each additional tier \u2014 dropping as low as 5% on any amount beyond $25 million.<\/p>\n The firm also proposed to pay its local counsel in Florida out of its contingency fee. If the state desired, the firm was also willing to agree to an hourly arrangement and would have offered a 15% discount off its standard rates.<\/p>\n Grady stated that its contingency fee engagement would be \u201cconsistent with and subject\u201d to a Florida law<\/a> that lays out caps at higher rates than what David had proposed.<\/p>\n Florida may have to potentially pay Grady $50,000 more than David if the state recovers $1 million from Roku. That difference, according to the Herald\u2019s calculation, only increases with each additional million recovered.<\/p>\n If the recovered amount is upwards of $25 million, Florida may have to pay Grady $750,000 more than what it would have paid David.<\/p>\n This March, roughly six months after Grady\u2019s firm signed a contract with the Attorney General\u2019s office to represent Florida in the Roku fight, 11 businesses that list Grady \u2060\u2014 and in some cases, his wife \u2060\u2014 as an executive and list the same address as Grady\u2019s law firm contributed $3,000 each to Uthmeier\u2019s campaign to keep his job this November as attorney general.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter studying his [Uthmeier\u2019s] performance in office for over a year, it was clear that he deserved our support,\u201d Grady told the Herald, adding that he backs the attorney general because their priorities \u2014 public safety, especially for kids and families \u2060\u2014 are aligned.<\/p>\n Big tech and corporate spies<\/p>\n Grady\u2019s stewardship of state money has been questioned in the past.<\/p>\n In 2012, when he was briefly the interim head of Citizens Property Insurance, the state-run lender of last resort, Grady made headlines<\/a> for his hefty travel spending, including spending around $10,000 within his first two months. At the time he had defended the expenses as being \u201cvery frugal.\u201d<\/p>\n More recently, he and his firm has been involved in several big-dollar tech litigations.<\/p>\n Last year, he represented Tesla shareholders seeking to overturn a Delaware court\u2019s decision to strike down a $56 billion pay package for Elon Musk, who later won his appeal. And in late 2025, Grady took on Meta (formerly called Facebook), including its affiliates Instagram and Whatsapp, for allowing fraudulent Chinese investment scams on its platforms.<\/p>\n The Naples attorney has also played a central role in a bitter public dispute regarding allegations of corporate espionage that has rocked Silicon Valley and the tech world.<\/p>\n In March last year, Rippling \u2060\u2014 an HR services firm whose subsidiary Grady helped incorporate in Florida \u2060\u2014 filed a suit in California against Deel, a business rival, accusing it of planting a spy to steal customer and employee information and product details.<\/p>\n Deel, for its part, has denied any wrongdoing and counter-sued Rippling in Delaware with similar allegations of corporate espionage.<\/p>\n Central to Deel\u2019s counterclaims is its accusation of Grady being a \u201cfixer\u201d for Rippling and planting false news stories and \u201cginning up frivolous regulatory issues for Deel.\u201d The suit alleges that Grady lobbied regulators in multiple states to investigate Deel and wrote letters \u201creplete with knowingly false information\u201d about Deel which he then amplified to \u201cdamage Deel\u2019s business.\u201d<\/p>\n It does not name Grady as a defendant.<\/p>\n \u201cDeel falsely points to me to divert attention from its own bad conduct,\u201d Grady told the Herald, pointing out that regulators in Minnesota and Florida have previously cited Deel for unlicensed practices which Deel later corrected.<\/p>\n Both suits are still ongoing.<\/p>\n![\"Gov.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Grady_01.JPG\" "\\"Grady_01.JPG\\"")
Gov. Rick Scott (R) greets Tom Grady (L) during a 2012 Cabinet meeting in which Grady was appointed head of Financial Regulation. Bill Cotterell\/Tallahassee Democrat <\/p>\n![\"Then-state](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Grady_02.JPG\" "\\"Grady_02.JPG\\"")
Then-state representative Tom Grady (L) speaking at the North Broward Academy of Excellence before then Gov. Charlie Crist (R) signed the 2009 School Improvement and Accountability Bill. Tom Ervin\/Miami Herald <\/p>\n
![\"Profile](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/DP.jpeg\")