A federal appeals court Thursday rejected arguments in a civil lawsuit filed by a Jacksonville attorney whose conviction was overturned in a high-profile case about alleged illegal gambling at internet cafes.
A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district judge’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit filed by attorney Kelly Mathis against former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Statewide Prosecutor Nicholas Cox, former Seminole County Sheriff Donald Eslinger, and an investigator and a former general counsel for the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.
Mathis was convicted in 2013 on gambling-related charges involving an organization known as Allied Veterans of the World, which was a major player in the internet cafe industry.